14000 MILES 



our subjects must be selected with reference to our abil- 

 ity, regardless of our taste. We went to work on a pair 

 of bars — or a gate, rather — in the stone wall opposite. 

 We were quite elated with our success, and next under- 

 took a shed. After this feat, we gathered a few little 

 white clovers, which we pressed in our writing tablet, 

 made a few comments in the "jotting" column, and the 

 "Summer Gleanings" began to mean something. 



We cannot tell you all we enjoyed and experienced 

 with that little book. It was like opening the room 

 which had "a hundred doors, each opening into a room 

 with another hundred," especially at night, when our 

 brains, fascinated and yet weary with the great effort 

 spent on small accomplishment, and the finger nerves 

 sensitive with working over unruly stems and petals, we 

 only increased a thousandfold the pastime of the day by 

 pressing whole fields of flowers, and attempting such 

 sketching as was never thought of except in dreamland. 

 A word or two about the quotations, then you may 

 imagine the rest. What could be more apt for the first 

 day of our journey than Shelley's 



"Away, away from men and towns 

 To the wild wood and the downs," 



or, as we came in sight of the "White Hills," Whittier's 



and 



"Once more, O mountains, unveil 

 Your brows and lay your cloudy mantles by." 



"0 more than others blest is he 

 Who walks the earth with eyes to see, 

 Who finds the hieroglyphics clear 

 Which God has written everywhere," 



94 



