Brookside Gleanings. 



"I am accustomed to regard the smallest brook 

 with as much interest, for the time being, as if it 

 were the Orinoco or Mississippi, and when a tribu- 

 tary rill empties into it, it is like the confluence of 

 famous rivers I have read of. * * * Its constant 

 murmuring would quiet the passions of mankind for- 

 ever." TJioreau. 



I. 



July 20, '99. The zigzag course of the brook 

 which flows through this old woodland pasture 

 is always attractive. In great S-shaped loops, 

 ever following the line of least resistance to its 

 moving waters, the stream meanders on. In 

 this respect it is like many men who follow the 

 bent of their own spirits and turn aside or 

 around for every obstacle which they meet in 

 their onward course through life. 



It is but a small stream, flowing slowly 

 through a region where the incline is gentle, 

 yet its pools and ripples are the homes of many 

 forms which would not be here were it away. 

 Its presence therefore adds much to the fauna 



