98 RAMBLES OF 



branches, which are all dry and dead, are inter- 

 mingled sufficiently to prevent any one from passing 

 between the trees, without first breaking these ob- 

 structions away. I have seen such a wood as that 

 just mentioned, covering an old corn-field, whose 

 ridges were still distinctly to be traced, and which 

 an old resident informed me he had seen growing in 

 corn. In a part of this wood, which was not far 

 ffom my dwelling, I had a delightful retreat, that 

 served me as a private study or closet, though enjoy- 

 ing all the advantages of the open air. A road that 

 had once passed through the field, and was of course 

 more compacted than any other part, had denied 

 access to the pine-seeds for a certain distance, while 

 on each side of it they grew with their usual density. 

 The ground was covered with the soft layer or carpet 

 of dried pine leaves which gradually and impercep- 

 tibly fall throughout the year, making a most pleasant 

 surface to' tread on, and rendering the step perfectly 

 noiseless. By beating off with a stick all the dried 

 branches that projected towards the vacant space, I 

 formed a sort of chamber, fifteen or twenty feet long, 

 which above was canopied by the densely-mingled 

 branches of the adjacent trees, which altogether ex- 

 cluded or scattered the rays of the sun, and on all 

 sides was so shut in by the trunks of the young trees, 

 as to prevent all observation. Hither, during the hot 

 season, I was accustomed to retire for the purpose of 

 reading or meditation and within this deeper solitude, 

 where all was solitary, very many of the subsequent 

 movements of my life were suggested or devised. 



