FARM PENCILL1NGS AT LAKESIDE. 235 



is seen far away from the shore where we are sit- 

 ting, and we can watch the movements of the 

 perch and pickerel foraging for their morning meal. 

 The earth is in its holiday attire ; the waters, just 

 escaped from the icy bonds of winter, are joyous as 

 an infant when it awakes from the sweetest slum- 

 ber ; the air is laden with the odors of flowers and 

 the songs of birds. Rest, rest, peaceful rest of 

 this let us have our fill. Let us forget the city, its 

 noise and dust, and the bargainings and wranglings 

 of restless men ; let us commune with Nature, 

 study her lessons, observe her laws, and thus be 

 made wiser, happier, better. A friend from the 

 city the other day, lounging by our side under the 

 trees, asked if we did not think that those who were 

 permitted to enjoy much of rural life would have 

 some deductions made from the happiness of the 

 life beyond. This was a random thought presented 

 in jest, and prompted doubtless by the satiety of 

 enjoyment which those only feel who emerge for 

 the first time from winter life in the city. Such 

 excursionists into the country have rather exagger- 

 ated notions of the inequality with which enjoyment 

 is distributed among men, and their estimate of the 

 pleasures of rural life is based upon the brief hour 

 they pass under the trees. The difference in 

 amount of absolute enjoyment in this world is very 

 much less than is supposed. Every man regards 



