62 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



little " incident," as editors say, little that 

 goes naturally into a notebook. In other 

 words, the best walk, for us, is the one in 

 which we are happiest, the one in which we 

 feel the most, not of necessity the one in 

 which we see the most ; or, to put it differ- 

 ently still, the one in which we do see the 

 most, but with 



" that inward eye 

 Which is the bliss of solitude." 



Whatever we may call ourselves at home, 

 among the mountains we are lovers of plea- 

 sure. Our day's work is to be happy. We 

 take our text from the good Long-fellow as 

 theologians take theirs from Scripture : — 



" Enjoyment, and not sorrow, is our destined end." 



We are not anxious to learn anything ; our 

 thoughts run not upon wisdom ; if we take 

 note of a plant or a bird, it is rather for the 

 fun of it than for any scholarly purpose. We 

 are boys out of school. I speak of myself 

 and of the man I have called my walking 

 mate. The two collectors of insects, of 

 course, are more serious-minded. " No day 

 without a beetle," is their motto, and their 

 absorption, even in Franconia, is in adding 



