Some Sample Walks 39 



fathers lived beside one, though they were 

 in different States. The one I speak of now 

 is so small that not one in twenty of those 

 who pass it in a railroad train pay any 

 regard to it It rises east from Rutland, 

 and in a gracefully tortuous course of forty 

 miles or so reaches the Connecticut 

 Swollen though it is by accessions from 

 brooks, its volume is at no point imposing. 

 Perhaps its average breadth is thirty feet, 

 and while one can wade across it in some 

 places, there is no lack of swimming-holes 

 that the boys will point out to you, nor of 

 still pools near painted bridges where 

 suckers may be snared. Most of the time 

 it is a rapid little river, for it falls a thou- 

 sand feet, and its dark color is emphasized 

 by rings and ribbons of foam. When it 

 rains long, or the snow melts, look out for 

 it, because then it rises two or three fath- 

 oms at a leap, and whatever is in the way 

 of it must go, unless it is founded on a 

 rock. 



Its sunny ovals, called Plymouth ponds, 

 were talked about years ago, when gold 

 was found there, as it is found there now ; 



