"GoD's FIRST TEMPLES." 39 



process of chemical assimilation, the oil is there 

 produced. The odor is so strong and lasting 

 that it readily survives the winter and in March 

 or April is, in places where the plant has grown, 

 mingled with that of the earth-mold of spring 

 to form a pleasing fragrance. 



I often wonder if birds ever grow old in feel- 

 ings and have catarrh, twinges of rheumatism, 

 stiff joints and other aches and pains. If so 

 their outward appearance and movements be- 

 token it not. Living as they do a wild and free 

 out of door life, it is to be supposed that, for the 

 most part, they are exempt from such afflictions ; 

 just as the voyageurs and trappers of the early 

 part of the nineteenth century are said to have 

 been healthier and longer lived than we who live 

 so much indoors. 



The woods are nature's abiding places "God's 

 first temples" as Bryant called them. There 

 beasts and birds and bugs abound. There the 

 naturalist goes when he would be alone with his 

 thoughts alone with God and his handiwork; 

 and yet alone only in the sense that he is away 

 from his fellow-man. In my ramblings through 



