AUTUMN LIGHTS AND SHADES. 203 



post is placed, directing you which road to take in 

 order to reach a given point if you can only get 

 there. No doubt the number of miles is correctly 

 stated by these ancient guides, but I feel there can- 

 not have been the least stint in the measurement. 



Three miles up a country track, called by courtesy 

 a road, the wheel -ruts eighteen inches and often 

 two feet in depth, the centre only a splashy track, 

 is trying to the temper especially if you happen 

 to slip in one of those ruts. The longest roads end 

 some time. We reach the top of the last hill 

 through the wilderness track, and then a view re- 

 wards our efforts that words give but a faint idea 

 of. On and on the landscape of woodlands, hill- 

 sides, and valleys stretches into the dim distance. 

 All the tones of colour that were ever spread on 

 canvas, or dreamed of, are there before us. The 

 light is so pure and strong on this glorious day that 

 the shadows are luminous, and the trunks of the 

 firs can be seen diminishing into the purple grey, 

 clear even in the distance, like the columns in a 

 cathedral when the sun shines, as it does shine at 

 times, through stained-glass windows of the olden 

 time. I could linger and gaze for hours, turning 



