8 FKOM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



tests, quite involuntarily, a half apologetic 

 air for showing himself unasked in such a 

 goodly company. 



I must add to my list of flowers still in 

 bloom the slender gerardia, which I found 

 this afternoon. My stroll took me up over 

 the ledge and through the rocky sumach- 

 covered pasture, where I kicked over now 

 a yellow boletus, and now an Agaricus cam- 

 pestris, much the worse for wear, and won 

 dered when our people would realize that 

 they must know mushrooms as they know 

 turnips before they eat them, and that then 

 they could add very freely to the delicacies 

 upon their tables. 



My way led past our own reservoir, where 

 the varied coloured trees, climbing the hill 

 on the farther side, in the full glow of the 

 westering sun, were reflected in the water, 

 which, all of a tremor with a passing breeze, 

 mingled their shades in a shimmer as of 

 crinkled Venetian glass. How odd it is, by 

 the way, that we continually go to the arti 

 ficial to find a simile for the natural effect 

 which often so far surpasses it ! 



Leaving the crest of Rattlesnake Moun 

 tain oil my left (how necessary it is for 

 these hill towns to have a Rattlesnake Hill 

 or Mountain in the neighbourhood 1 hope 



