30 FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



VI. 



THE frost this morning was not by any 

 means the lirst of the season, but it was by 

 much the most severe. The fields were al 

 most as white as if a light snow had fallen, 

 and each leaf and blade of grass was bor 

 dered with a delicate fringe of spicular crys 

 tals and encrusted with a coat of gems. The 

 pools were frozen over, and here and there 

 on the roadsides the ice took curious curly 

 forms that seemed to defy explanation. 



My morning stroll took me over the ledge 

 and the hilltop, among the sumachs, cedars 

 and young oak trees. My object was to 

 ascertain whether the conical mountain 

 upon our most distant horizon is actually 

 that well-known peak which popular belief 

 asserts it to be. But alas ! it was the old 

 story of the sun and the wind over again. 

 Only here it was the delicate haze pervad 

 ing the Indian summer air, which had effect 

 ually effaced the pile of rugged trap-rock 

 of which I was in search, leaving for me 

 alone but how large an alouu ! the glo- 



