•ffn tbe mioobe wttb tbe Bow 



ened each morning; new wild-flowers 

 sparkled beside the boulders and between 

 the rusty roots of the wayside trees ; while 

 even on the highest cliff-fanged mountain- 

 peaks spread a tender film of green. 



A short paragraph in my note-book 

 runs thus : 



Came to a pine wood thinly set on a level 

 plateau. Heard red-cockaded woodpeckers at 

 work. Went to get a specimen for study. They 

 were high in the pine-tops, mostly hidden. Now 

 and again I tried a shot at one far aloft, and had 

 but the satisfaction of pounding a solid piece of 

 wood or clipping off a green frond. The ground 

 under the trees was lightly covered with pine- 

 needles, and my arrows descending stuck upright, 

 showing their gay feathers here and yonder clearly 

 against the russet background. In the road a little 

 way off a lank mountain-boy sat on his mule astride 

 of a grist-bag— he had been, or was going, to mill 

 — and gazed at me long and vacantly. 



Before I reached the town where I was 

 to take the train for home and work, I sat 



Upon a lofty peak, amid the clear blue sky, 



as Mrs. Hemans said it, and looked down 



into a wide, fertile, well-tilled valley, 



234 



