124 BOULDER REVERIES. 



rough, their frames gnarly, their general ap- 

 pearance gruff and less hospitable; perchance 

 like that of most men and not a few women. 

 # # * 



Tis eventide in mid-July. Clouds hide the 

 setting sun, cover everywhere the sky, cause a 

 spirit of gloom to possess the soul of man. Only 

 the distant crowing of a cockerel or, at long in- 

 tervals, the prolonged, weird call of a pea-fowl 

 break the silence of the summer evening. All 

 birds are silent. Even the hum of insect is 

 stilled. Quiet reigns supreme. 



Where e'er I go I browse. Just now it is on 

 pennyroyal. Sometimes it is on peppermint, 

 or sassafras or spice bush buds. Again it is on 

 hickorynut, butternut or walnut. Papaws. 

 black haws, wild grapes, persimmons, blackber- 

 ries, wild apples all to me are most welcome, 

 and their season never passes but on some outing 

 I find them, take them, in part or all into my 

 body, and perchance aid in giving their seeds a 

 wider dissemination. A few days ago the fruit 

 of the May apple or mandrake, yielded its tang 

 to my palate a peculiar, wild, semi-acid taste. 



