182 OLD PLYMOUTH TRAILS 



derful faculty for soothing and harmonizing in 

 all things. She will take colors that placed side 

 by side in silks would cry to heaven for a separa- 

 tion, and combine them in a flower group, or 

 sometimes indeed in a single flower, so skilfully 

 that we accept the whole as beautiful without a 

 question. 



While I enjoy these things an eddy of wind 

 brings from down the stream the fresh, moist 

 smell of the water itself, and running through 

 this I note just a suggestion of musk. All the 

 other scents and sounds have been of a soothing 

 quality, especially in combination with each 

 other. In this suggestion of musk is something 

 which bids one sit up and watch out. By and by 

 I see the beast, a muskrat, steamboating his way 

 up the rapids like a furry Maid-of-the-Mist, or 

 perhaps I should say a submarine, that navigates 

 the surface with but little bulk exposed. Pres- 

 ently he proves himself a submarine by diving in 

 a shallow. I see his paws stirring up mud and 

 presently again he comes to the surface with a 

 fresh-water clam. Clams in August are good, 

 though I confess I have never tried the fresh- 

 water variety. The muskrat knows, however, 

 that these are good. He sits up on a rock, 



