246 VIRGINIA 



ing limit of vision ; and the eye must be held 

 to that point, not by a distracting exercise 

 of the will, but by the quieting constraint of 

 circumstances. 



Let my theorizing be true or false, I 

 greatly enjoyed the picture ; the deep, dark, 

 wooded ravine, with the line of water run- 

 ning through it lengthwise, the magnificent 

 stone arch, the low hills in the middle dis- 

 tance, and Thunder Mountain a background 

 for the whole. The mountain, as has been 

 said, was a long ridge, not a peak ; and 

 sharp as it looked from this point of view, it 

 was very likely flat at the top. Like Look- 

 out Mountain and Walden's Ridge, it might, 

 for anything I knew, be roomy enough to 

 hold one or two Massachusetts counties upon 

 its summit. While I sat gazing at it the 

 sun went down and left it of a deep sombre 

 blue. Then, of a sudden, a small heron 

 flew past, and a pileated woodpecker some- 

 where behind me set up a prolonged and 

 lusty shout ; and a few minutes later I was 

 startled to see between me and the sunset 

 sky a flock of six big herons flying slowly in 

 single file, like so many pelicans. From 

 their size they should have been Ardea hero- 



