276 In Touch with Nature. 



the sun, are the dolts who bray " crank" " crank" 

 when they encounter men who can see beyond 

 their shadows ? 



Dispute, happily, ended as we turned towards 

 home, and as the horse would not or could not take 

 a quick step, we had abundant opportunity for bot- 

 anizing by the road-side, if by so dignified a name 

 one may call the gathering by armfuls of golden- 

 rod, asters, and that gorgeous September bloom, 

 gerardia. All the available space in the carriage 

 being filled with flowers, it is little wonder that pe- 

 destrians stared and children called to us. As we 

 afterwards learned, the county fair had closed the 

 day before, and we were credited with being be- 

 nighted individuals that had not been aware, at 

 the proper time, that the visitors were leaving. 

 How strangely vivid is the average imagination ! 

 All on a strictly scientific errand, and my com- 

 panions learned specialists from a great city, and 

 yet this was the impression of the villagers we 

 met! 



Free from the gibes of one village, we were even 

 less fortunate in the next, for as the horse neared 

 the stable his pace quickened, and undue haste 



