INFANCY 17 



crossed and criscrossed by broad stone 

 fences. Now, these ribs of stone run far 

 into the lake, wonderful as home of rock 

 bass, splendid means whereby the angler 

 may wade to deeper water, and magic reefs 

 for white waves in a high wind. 



Surrounding the entire body of water are 

 the trees: slender tamaracks lifting like 

 artists' brushes dipped in pale green paint 

 on the broad canvas of the sky; white 

 birches with boles eight and ten inches in 

 diameter, and smooth as the throat of a 

 swan; oaks with the omnipresent sprouts 

 about their bases ; and beech, their branches 

 sweeping low. 



The water rises slightly in winter and 

 falls in summer, so that at fishing time there 

 is a rim around the lake bare of foliage, 

 and covered here with great black bowlders, 

 there with pebbles and sand. 



The lake itself changes with the whim of 

 the day. Of early morning it lies still and 

 warm, a white fog playing yard high over 

 the surface. As the sun touches it the mist 

 vanishes and the waters lie in the embrace 

 of light like a green park close-mown. 



Mid-afternoon finds the breezes playing 



