THE FERN PARADISE. 



delightful a ramble as this river- side path 

 afforded. 



We thread a narrow path along a grassy sward. 

 Beneath, soft, verdant carpeting thickly strewn 

 with wild flowers ; above us a delightful canopy 

 formed of the interlaced branches of trees, through 

 which the screened sunlight softly falls. On our 

 right a high embankment, leading up to a higher 

 path on the hill-side, from out of which hang 

 tufts of Fern fronds, mingled in charming variety. 

 Down to our left rolls the river, whose music 

 joins in chorus with the songs of the birds, sing- 

 ing, we know not where, but everywhere around 

 us. As we follow this charming river-side path, 

 we have from time to time to press through the 

 dense masses of shrubs which surround us now 

 hanging down overhead, now springing from the 

 left, and now from the right side. The small, 

 but startling, incidents of the route add a sort of 

 piquancy to the enjoyment. The sudden flutter 

 and the wild cry of a blackbird, as it darts out 

 of the tiny thicket where its nest is hid ; the rustle 

 in the high embankment on our right, and the 

 quivering of the Fern-fronds, followed by the 



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