JUNE IN FRANC ON I A. 33 



almost ripe fruit was abundant, there was 

 scarce any that had taken on the final tinge 

 and flavor. Then I began to be aware of 

 faint, sibilant noises about me, and, glan- 

 cing up, I saw that the ground was already 

 "preempted" by a company of cedar-birds, 

 who, naturally enough, were not a little in- 

 dignant at my poaching thus on their pre- 

 serves. They showed so much concern (and 

 had gathered the ripest of the berries so 

 thoroughly) that I actually came away the 

 sooner on their account. I began to feel 

 ashamed of myself, and for once in my life 

 was literally hissed off the stage. 



Even on my last page I must be permitted 

 a word in praise of Mount Cannon, of which 

 I made three ascents. It has nothing like 

 the celebrity of Mount Willard, with which, 

 from its position, it is natural to compare it ; 

 but to my thinking it is little, if at all, less 

 worthy. Its outlook upon Mount Lafayette 

 is certainly grander than anything Mount 

 Willard can offer, while the prospect of the 

 Pemigewasset Valley, fading away to the 

 horizon, if less striking than that of the 

 White Mountain Notch, has some elements 

 of beauty which must of necessity be lacking 



