TANGLE-LEAF PAPERS. 73 



gourd at his well, and obtained permission to 

 ride across his wide pasture land to a road a 

 half-mile distant. I mounted in his barnyard, 

 and, while he held open a big gate for me, 

 dashed out at my best speed into the level 

 grass-field, where the dandelions shone like 

 stars. A herd of steers, as I approached them, 

 eyed me wildly for awhile, then ran away at a 

 thundering pace, with their tails whirling and 

 their heads high in air. I had to push across 

 thirty acres of fresh ploughed land (a very unin- 

 teresting and tiresome operation) before I 

 reached the road. Now came a long spin over 

 a surface just damp enough to be elastic, and 

 although the road-bed had been gravelled it was 

 quite free from ugly stones. The air had 

 freshened and was blowing in sweet gusts 

 from the south. 



The sunshine was growing in power ; one 

 could almost hear the buds exploding. A 

 clover-field beside the road was a lovely 

 sight, though not yet in bloom. Its dark green 

 tufts looked as if they had gushed out of the 

 earth in a moment of ecstatic impulse. In- 

 deed, some occult force made itself manifest 

 in every bud and blade, and stalk and leaflet, 

 from which one could not fail to catch a fine 

 mental tonic. I passed a level reach of maple 

 wood in which grew scattered patches of man- 

 drake that looked like the grass-green tents of 

 lilliputian armies. In places the ground was 

 rosy white with the blooms of the claytonia, 

 or yellow with the stars of the adder-tongue. 



What sweet and sure alchemic recipes 

 Mother Earth gives us, if we could but read 

 them ! How unfailing are her schemes for 

 the perpetuation of life, freshness, strength, 



