BROWSING AND NIBBLING. 



I WAS once following a tireless guide 

 through a wild mountain region of the South, 

 when, in answer to a direct question, he de- 

 livered himself as follows: 



"What makes me allus a-nibblin' an' 

 a-browsin' of the bushes an' things as I goes 

 along ? Well, I dunno, 'less hit's kase I've 

 sorter tuck a notion to. A feller needs a heap 

 o' nerve ef he 'spects to be much account for 

 a deer-hunter in these here hills, an' I kinder 

 b'lieve hit keeps a feller's heart stiddy an' his 

 blood pure for to nibble an' browse kinder 

 like a deer does. You know a deer is allus 

 strong an' active, an' hit is everlastin'ly a- 

 nibblin' an' a-browsin'. Ef hit's good for the 

 annymel hit orter be good for the feller." 



This philosophy immediately gained a lodg- 

 ment in my mind. I delightedly took up the 

 seeds of suggestion let fall by the strong- 

 limbed, steady-nerved mountaineer, and forced 

 them to rapid quickening and utmost growth. 

 The old alchemists in their search for the 

 elixir of life ought to have known that the 

 birds and the animals of the wild woods had 

 long ago discovered it. How many sick deer, 

 or bears, or partridges, have ever been found 

 by hunters or woodsmen ? For twenty years, as 

 boy and man, I have been an untiring and per- 

 sistent roamer in the wildest nooks and cor- 

 ners of our American forests ; and during this 

 period, I have never found a deer, a bear, a 

 squirrel, a turkey, a grouse, a quail, or any 



