WILDWOOD WAYS 



and other slender shrubs that it was next 

 to impossible to penetrate it. For some 

 reason the south wind had failed to carry 

 off all the snow here, and a thin coating 

 of it lay on the ground. There was a bit 

 of open water on the edge of the tangle, 

 and I noticed that this was covered with 

 a black coating. Going down to look 

 closer I found that the snow as far as I 

 could look into the meadow was covered 

 with this same surface, making it fairly 

 black. It looked quite like the soot from 

 black coal, but when I poked at it with 

 my finger to see if it smutted it hopped 

 nimbly away. The open pool and the 

 snow all about it was covered with tiny 

 black fleas or some similar skipping 

 minute insect. I was curious about these 

 tiny black creatures, and I folded many 

 of them carefully in a leaf of my note 

 book, creasing the edges firmly so that 



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