An October Outing. 151 



you take a telescopic view of them from the 

 window next your fireside ; but drops of water 

 are not serious obstacles to the progress of an 

 earnest man, and what was not shunned by the 

 bluebirds that I had no desire to shun. It 

 makes some difference as to whom you share 

 your discomforts with, and with birds as com- 

 panions the gloomy aspects of creation are 

 fringed with rosy light The song of the blue- 

 bird is next in merit to the laughter of a friend, 

 and I should fear to listen to sweeter music lest 

 I prove to have an unappreciative ear. Then, 

 too, absorbing attention on a single object causes 

 us to forget that we are plagued with myriads 

 of petty ills. I heard the bluebird, saw it, and 

 was oblivious to all else. The clogging infirmi- 

 ties of increasing years rolled off my shoulders 

 as surely as the rain-drops ; but do not, after 

 fifty, delude yourself into jumping over ditches 

 without previous estimate of their width. I 

 have heard more than one man exclaim im- 

 patiently, "Oh! I'm as young as ever," and 

 jump, but he did not reach the opposite bank, 

 and his day's ramble was spoiled. Exceptions 

 occur, of course, and old John Riker, at sixty, 



