A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



skunk, the weasel, the raccoon, the fox, the 

 mink, the woodchuck, and the rabbit. By 

 day, the grouse and quail seek your grassy 

 spots for food, and your tiny brooks for 

 water. Birds of all kinds nest and sing in 

 the shrubby growth that borders your road- 

 sides. May you never lose the wildness, which, 

 for one hundred and fifty years, you have res- 

 cued from civilization. 



I have mentioned poison-ivy and wood- 

 bine. It is easy to tell one from the other. 

 Poison-ivy has three leaflets, and the wood- 

 bine has five. When leafless, examine the 

 method of climbing. The stem of the poison- 

 ivy is covered thickly with fine rootlets, while 

 the stem of the woodbine is sparingly supplied 

 with tendrils by which it clings and climbs. 



Thoreau writes : " It takes a savage or 

 wild taste to appreciate a wild apple." Again, 

 " What is sour in the house, a bracing walk 

 makes sweet. Some of these apples might be 

 labelled ' to be eaten in the wind.' " 



I suppose my taste must be " savage or 

 wild," for I do appreciate wild apples. I 

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