6 BOULDER REVERIES. 



have cause ; the winds, a reason for their being, 

 and the clouds a master, in the sun which rules 

 us all. Thoreau did "sift the sunbeams for the 

 public good," and a milk the earth and sky for 

 nutriment" for the fantasies of his brain. In 

 this was he wise beyond his time; a naturalist 

 without a peer. 



The little volume here offered was, with the 

 exception of the last two articles, written in an 

 old woods-pasture in Central -Western Indiana. 

 During the summer months, for a decade of 

 years or longer, it has been my custom to spend 

 some of my Sabbaths, and, at times, a few of 

 my week days, in visiting at an old farm-house 

 which is located in that region. The pasture 

 in front of the house stretches for a half-mile 

 or more adown the valley of a purling brooklet. 

 Ever does the song of bird and ripple of water ; 

 the waving tree-top and the mingling of sun- 

 shine and shadow invite and lure me on; so 

 that in the old pasture a goodly portion of my 

 visiting time is passed. There have I met the 

 majority of the lowly forms of which mention 

 is made in the pages which follow. 



