86 BOULDER REVERIES. 



at me a few seconds, retreated rapidly to the 

 shelter of its burrow. 



Strange animals, these marmots, which, now 

 that the foxes have almost disappeared, are the 

 largest of the wild animals dwelling in these old 

 woods. Only to think, the buffalo, bear, pan- 

 ther, deer, wolf of less than a century ago, for- 

 ever gone, and in their stead a marmot a 

 ground-hog as the prince of mammals here- 

 abouts ! Such the result of the coming of the 

 white man, and the fencing in of nature for the 

 raising of his cereals and the grazing of his do- 

 mestic animals. 



XX. 



Aug. 81 j '02. It has come the last day of 

 another August of another summer. Soon the 

 hoar frost will sere the green of grass and tree. 

 Soon the winds will blow from the north as 

 strongly as this morn they roll up from the 

 south. Soon, all too soon, this summer's wan- 

 derings and reveries will be a part of the etern- 

 ity of the past. 



In this latitude August is a month of languor, 

 of sleepy content, not only with many men but 



