AFTERMATH 325 



scape, teaching us to see it anew by doling it out 

 in sections. 



At first the mist showed us only the near-by 

 White Pines, using itself as a screen to throw out 

 the articulation of every twig. Then it retreated 

 below the Oaks, and we found the russet hue that 

 dyed their tenacious leaves very cheeringly. 



Next, the fog dropped below the old orchard 

 toward the river, on the west, and the lowland 

 cottages seemed to float on a lake of mist, like 

 house -boats. On the south side it rolled back- 

 ward across the Sea Gardens to the beach crest, 

 and there remained for two days. 



What a protecting cloak against the gunners 

 this fog was to the water-fowl, storm-driven to the 

 stony bar! You could hear their voices calling and 

 signaling along its entire length from the land; and 

 the flutter of damp wings made mysterious noises, 

 like the snapping of icicles in a Winter storm or 

 the dripping of melting snow. 



Ah ! the beauty of the scene the next morning 

 when the veil was suddenly lifted from the water, 

 and far and near, covering the bay like a fleet of 

 white -winged boats in a harbor of refuge, the water- 

 fowls floated at the moorings where necessity had 

 anchored them ! 



