FIVE DAYS ON MOUNT MANSFIELD. 107 



ruin his health, if I understood him cor- 

 rectly ; and because of wild animals bears 

 and what not he made his bed on the roof 

 of his hermitage. I had often dreamed of 

 the enjoyment of a life in the woods all by 

 one's self, but such a mode of existence did 

 not gain in attractiveness as I saw it here in 

 the concrete example. On the whole I was 

 well satisfied to sleep in the hotel and eat 

 at the hotel table. Liberty is good, but I 

 thought it might be undesirable to be a slave 

 to my own freedom. 



Two or three times a wagon-load of tour- 

 ists appeared at the hotel. They strolled 

 about the summit, admired the prospect, 

 picked a bunch of sandwort, perhaps, but 

 especially they went to see the snow. They 

 had been at much trouble to stand upon the 

 highest land in Vermont, and now that they 

 were here, they wished to do or see some- 

 thing unique, something that should mark 

 the day as eventful. So they were piloted 

 to a cave midway between the Nose and the 

 Chin, into which the sun never peeped, and 

 wherein a snow-bank still lingered. The 

 mountain was grand, the landscape was mag- 

 nificent, but to eat a handful of snow and 



