56 SPRINGS. 



cal, or has too great a dip, the w^ter is not collected 

 in large veins, but is rather held as it falls and oozes 

 out slowly at the surface over the top of the rock. 

 On this account one of the most famous grass and 

 dairy sections of New York is poorly supplied with 

 springs. Every creek starts in a bog or marsh, and 

 good water can be had only by excavating. 



What a charm lurks about those springs that are 

 found near the tops of mountains, so small that they 

 get lost amid the rocks and debris and never reach 

 the valley, and so cold that they make the throat 

 ache ! Every hunter and mountain-climber can tell 

 you of such usually on the last rise before the sum- 

 mit is cleared. It is eminently the hunter's spring. 

 I do not know whether or not the foxes and other 

 wild creatures lap at it, but their pursuers are quite 

 apt to pause there and take breath or eat their lunch. 

 The mountain-climbers in summer hail it with a 

 shout. It is always a surprise, and raises the spirits 

 of the dullest. Then it seems to be born of wildness 

 and remoteness, and to savor of some special benefit 

 or good fortune. A spring in the valley is an idyl, 

 but a spring on the mountain' is a genuine lyrical 

 touch. It imparts a milct thrill ; and if one were to 

 call any springs " miracles," as the natives of Cash- 

 mere are said to regard their fountains, it would be 

 such as these. 



What secret attraction draws one in his summer 

 walk to touch at all the springs on his route, and to 

 pause a moment at each, as if what he was in quest 



