Tiii PREFACE. 



I have been told bj a ladj, a former resident of Chi- 

 cago, that, during the great fire in that city, she was 

 bidden by her parents, when the house was about to be 

 burned, to remove from her room such valuables as she 

 could conveniently carry. She retired for that pur- 

 pose, and, forgetting all her jewelry, returned to her 

 parents with a cake of soap. 



I trust that, having been out of doors nearly every 

 day of the year, either in the uplands or the meadows, 

 it has not proved to so little purpose. The jewels were 

 there, and free to him who would select ; may what I 

 offer, as the gatherings of manv rambles, prove some- 

 thing better than a cake of soap. 



0. C. A. 



Prospect Hill, Tkenton, N. J. 



