Up Sterling 



woods lighted up ahead in that peculiar 

 way which betokens open country beyond. 

 It is wonderful how far some practiced eyes 

 can detect this dawning of the open, as it 

 were. I have known woodsmen who could 

 "intuit" a clearing half a mile away ; and if 

 you ask them how, they will say, "Don't 

 you see how the woods lighten up in that 

 direction?" 



Fortunately, the cow with the bell kept 

 moving, so that by following the jangle I 

 soon came where she was feeding in a 

 little glade by a brook. From here there 

 was a well-defined cow-path leading west 

 ward. I struck into it, and in ten min 

 utes reached the big clearing which I had 

 seen from the village. The clearing con 

 tained, perhaps, a dozen upland farms. 

 Small buildings were scattered here and 

 there, and I could see a road climbing the 

 western slope. It was a remote settlement, 

 but thrifty, I thought, as I marked the 

 barns bursting with hay, the sheep and cat 

 tle scattered over the fields, and the big 

 squares of harvested grain, showing, by the 

 semi-circles in the stubble, that it had been 

 mowed with the old-fashioned "cradle." 



