WARWICK WOODLANDS. 



maples, in their various stages of decay, purple, and crimson, and 

 bright gorgeous scarlet, were contrasted with the rich chrome 

 yellow of the birch and poplars, the sere red leaves of the gi- 

 gantic oaks, and with the ever verdant plumage of the junipers, 

 clustered in massy patches on every rocky promontory, and the 

 tail spires of the dark pines and hemlock. 



Over this mass of many-colored foliage, the pale thin yellow 

 light of the new-risen sun was pouring down a flood of chaste 

 illumination ; while, exhaled from the waters by his first beams, 

 a silvery gauze-like haze floated along the shores, not rising to 

 the height of ten feet from the limped surface, which lay unbro- 

 ken by the smallest ripple, undisturbed by the slightest splash 

 of fish or insect, as still and tranquil to the eye as though it 

 had been one huge plate of beaten burnished silver ; with the 

 tall cones of the gorgeous hills in all their rich variety, in all 

 their clear minuteness, reflected, summit downward, palpable as 

 their reality, in that most perfect mirror. 



Such was the scene on which I gazed, as on the last day of 

 our sojourn in the Woodlands of fair Orange, I issued from the 

 little cabin, under the roof of which I had slept so dreamlessly 

 and deep, after the fierce excitement of our deer hunt, that while 

 I was yet slumbering, all save myself had risen, donned their 

 accoutrements, and sallied forth, I knew not whither, leaving me 

 certainly alone, although as certainly not so much to my glory. 



From the other cottage, as I stood upon the threshold, I 

 might hear the voices of the females, busy at their culinary 

 labors, the speedily approaching term of which was obviously 

 denoted by the rich savory steams which tainted not, I con- 

 fess, unpleasantly the fragrant morning air. 



As I looked out upon this lovely morning, I did not, I acknow- 

 ledge it, regret the absence of my excellent though boisterous com- 

 panions ; for there was something which I cannot define in the 

 deep stillness, in the sweet harmonious quiet of the whole scene 

 before me, that disposed my spirit to meditation far more than to 

 mirth ; the very smoke which rose from the low chimneys of the 

 Teachmans' colony not surging to and fro, obedient to the fickle 

 winds but soaring straight, tall, unbroken, upward, like Corin- 

 thian columns, each with its curled capital seemed to invite the 

 soul of the spectator to mount with it toward the sunny heavens. 



By-and-bye I strayed downward to the beach, a narrow strip 

 of silvery sand and variegated pebbles, and stood there long, si- 

 Jently watching the unknown sports, the seemingly to us at 

 4 



