The Open Air 



wandering into the osier beds the winter gnats dance 

 in the sunshine, round about an old post covered 

 with ivy, on which green berries are thick. The 

 warm sunshine gladdens the hearts of the moorhens 

 floating on the water yonder by the bushes, and their 

 singular note, " coorg-coorg," is uttered at intervals. 

 In the plantation close to the house a fox resides as 

 safe as King Louis in " Quentin Durward," sur- 

 rounded with his guards and archers and fortified 

 towers, though tokens of his midnight rambles, in 

 the shape of bones, strew the front of his castle. He 

 crosses the lawn in sight of the windows occasionally, 

 as if he really knew and understood that his life is 

 absolutely safe at ordinary times, and that he need 

 beware of nothing but the hounds. 



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