184 A COTTON PLANTATION. 



thing more unusual or interesting than sum- 

 mer tanagers and yellow-throated warblers, 

 which were in song there, as they were in 

 every such place, and after a while came out 

 into a pleasant glade, from which different 

 parts of the plantation could be seen, and 

 through which ran a plantation road. Here 

 was a wooden fence, a most unusual thing, 

 and I lost no time in mounting it, to rest 

 and look about me. It is one of the marks 

 of a true Yankee, I suspect, to like such a 

 perch. My own weakness in that direction 

 is a frequent subject of mirth with chance 

 fellow travelers. The attitude is comforta- 

 ble and conducive to meditation ; and now 

 that I was seated and at my ease, I felt that 

 this was one of the New England luxuries 

 which, almost without knowing it, I had 

 missed ever since I left home. 



Of my meditations on this particular oc- 

 casion I remember nothing ; but that is no 

 sign they were valueless; as it is no sign 

 that yesterday's dinner did me no good be- 

 cause I have forgotten what it was. In the 

 latter case, indeed, and perhaps in the for- 

 mer as well, it would seem more reasonable 

 to draw an exactly opposite inference. But, 



