nto join. 

 Che Mighty River 



IT is to a point far removed from the familiar 

 paths through which we have wandered 

 month after month that I would summon you to- 

 day. For a little while we exchange the grove, 

 the veranda, the hut, and all the dear home-nooks 

 for a sojourn on the banks of a north-country 

 river. Here, in the shadow of the great trees 

 that line the cliff-top, is my favorite outlook 

 point. In flood-time the swollen stream rages by 

 and does its best to wrench the huge bowlders 

 from the encircling grasp of the half-bared roots ; 

 but, though the trees resist bravely, the river will 

 win some day, for each year, as the bank recedes 

 before the angry spring torrent, the grasp of the 

 old roots grows weaker and weaker. 



Far up on the forest-clad mountain-side the 

 river springs into life. On and on the little 

 stream glides past the haunts of solitude-loving, 



[223] 



