86 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



crown of the year. It is worth a year's life 

 to enjoy it. There is much to see, but best 

 of all is the comfort that wraps us round and 

 the peace that seems to brood over the world. 

 If the first day was of this quality, we need not 

 wonder that the maker of it took an artist's 

 pride in his work and pronounced it good. 



As for the road, there is still another thing 

 to be said in its praise : While it follows a 

 straight course, it is never straight itself for 

 more than a few rods together. If you look 

 ahead a little space you are sure to see it run- 

 ning out of sight round a corner, beckoning 

 you after it. A man would be a poor stick 

 who would not follow. Every rod brings a new 

 picture. How splendid the maple leaves are, 

 red and yellow, with the white boles of the 

 birches, as white as milk, or, truer still, as 

 white as chalk, to set off their brightness. I 

 could walk to the world's end on such an in- 

 vitation. 



But the road, as I said, is a short one. Its 

 errand is only to three farms, and I am 

 now on the edge of the first of them. Here 

 the wood moves farther away, and mountains 

 come into view, Lafayette, Haystack, and 



