46 SPRINGS 



and the best of good fortune awaits iiim who walks 

 therein. It is a well-worn path, and, though gener- 

 ally up or down a hill, it is the easiest of all paths to 

 travel : we forget our fatigue when going to the 

 spring, and we have lost it when we turn to come 

 away. See with what alacrity the laborer hastens 

 along it, all sweaty from the fields ; see the boy or 

 girl running with pitcher or pail; see the welcome 

 shade of the spreading tree that presides over its 

 marvelous birth ! 



In the woods or on the mountain-side follow the 

 path, and you are pretty sure to find a spring; all 

 creatures are going that way night and day, and they 

 make a path. 



A spring is always a vital point in the landscape ; 

 it is indeed the eye of the fields, and how often, too, 

 it has a noble eyebrow in the shape of an overhang- 

 ing bank or ledge. Or else its site is marked by 

 some tree which the pioneer has wisely left standing, 

 and which sheds a coolness and freshness that make 

 the water more sweet. In the shade of this tree the 

 harvesters sit and eat their lunch and look out upon 

 the quivering air of the fields. Here the Sunday 

 saunterer stops and lounges with his book, and 

 bathes his hands and face in the cool fountain. 

 Hither the strawberry-girl comes with her basket 

 and pauses a moment in the green shade. The 

 plowman leaves his plow and in long strides ap- 

 proaches the life-renewing spot, while his team, that 

 cannot follow, look wistfully after him. Here thf 



