348 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



this primitive plank-bridge, built over the trunk of an oak 

 which fell years ago handily across the stream ; and now we 

 are in the orchard, amidst a forest of apple trees, whose 

 branches hang heavily laden with pomes of divers varieties. 

 Here is a quiet nook, a grassy embouchure, close by the 

 river-bank, which invites us to rest a while and study -nature 

 at large, or ourselves, if we are so minded. Here we may 

 exercise the dulce cum ntile spirit, and enjoy a siesta under 

 conditions the most agreeable and pleasant. 



That is the "mill" you see before you as you gaze up 

 stream. The outjutting ledge of the river-bank, with its 

 leafy canopy, hides everything but the mill and a portion of 

 the green meadow beyond from view. The w r ater-meadows, 

 despite the hotness of the season, are deep green, and the 

 artist who has pitched his umbrella and easel beside the 

 mill will have hard work to counterfeit the pure tint of the 

 grass before him. For the greenness of the water-meadows, 

 like the whiteness of snow, is a colour sui generis ; and as 

 the old mill stands out before you to-day, from a background 

 of green foliage and a side-setting of willows, you can realise 

 why artists are never weary of reproducing its features, and 

 why in many a gallery next winter you will meet the old 

 familiar spot so frequently. The river beside us appears a 

 quiet, innocent-looking stream, as we see it now at its sum- 

 mer level. But natives of these parts will tell you wonderful 

 stories of its extent in the winter season, and of the punting 

 expeditions they have to make across the fields that are now 

 being reaped and shorn, but which become huge water 

 areas for weeks together. At a time when you may be com- 

 plaining of fogs and gutters full of mud in town, the inhabit- 

 ants of these coasts will have to pick their way through 

 floods of water, and the spot where we are now resting will 

 be overwhelmed and unapproachable in those winter days. 

 The bank before us bears evidence of the action of these 

 winter floods. You notice how the swirling currents have 

 cut a deep groove along its upper margin, and have thereby 

 left an overhanging and treacherous ledge, that will surely fall 



