132 FOREST FANCIES 



we were misusing a good friend, killing off 

 the forest. And I would add the words of 

 Bryant, our poet: 



** 'Before these fields were shorn and tilled, 

 Full to the brim our rivers flowed; 

 The melody of waters filled 

 The fresh and boundless woods ; 

 And torrents dashed, and rivulets played, 

 And fountains sported in the shade.' 



* ^ Ladies, good-night I ' ' 



Josiah bowed. Butterfly fluttered off. 

 Waterlily drifted down the stream. He and 

 the one in green were left alone. 



*^ You told me your home was in danger," he 

 said. * * I had well nigh forgotten my mission. ' ' 



**You are prone to forget," she reproached 

 him. ^^ Follow me." 



She led him toward the mountains. The 

 scene grew familiar. He looked down at the 

 half -hidden path, once a sandy road in the for- 

 est, now hardly a trail through brush. 



*^Is this the road I remember?" he asked. 

 **Nigh sixty years ago I used to drive here 

 under the trees, past little springs hidden 

 among f ern«^ great wavy ferns, drive for miles 



