20 In Touch with Nature. 



different that whole day, from the instant of the 

 bird's appearance ! It needs but a tiny twig to 

 ripple the flow of placid waters ; and but for this 

 casual glimpse of a cat-bird, how monotonous 

 might have proved the current of my thought, 

 rambling on such a day ! No, not rambling. It 

 is truer to say, we walk in winter, and ramble in 

 spring; just as one is given to loafing in summer 

 and to taking the world meditatively during 

 autumn's dreamy days. 



But walking does not forbid a searching glance, 

 as we leave trees, rocks, and frozen river behind. 

 Even from a car window the world may be seen 

 suggestively. Turning, by mere chance, at the 

 proper moment, I once saw a prong-horned ante- 

 lope bounding over the prairie, while the train was 

 speeding through Colorado ; and again, in Arizona, 

 saw the ground cuckoo or chaparral cock running 

 from the train as rapidly as we were moving from 

 it ; yet in neither case did so simple an incident 

 fail to bring back many a bright picture and page 

 after page of many a well-thumbed volume. To 

 walk successfully, every step should give our wits 

 as well as our bodies an impetus. My winter cat- 



