AUTUMN LIGHTS AND SHADES. 20: 



closed in almost entirely by the hills. You are in 

 a spangled hollow, secure from all winds ; not 

 a sound, not even a chirp is to be heard. You 

 might fancy it a scene from some fairy tale. This 

 lovely moor is not frequented. It seems to be 

 unknown save to a few ; the destroyers of the 

 beautiful have not been here. May they never 

 come ! 



You are not able to see to the end of this natural 

 paradise, for it extends to a long distance. Not 

 even a drip or a trickle can be heard, yet the water 

 is coming silently from the hill-top as it has done 

 for centuries. Under the golden-green moss, and 

 the dry grey hill moss, it runs through the matted 

 roots of the fir-trees that show for miles on both 

 sides of the moorland road, filling its hollows, even 

 where the moorland stock have left the impress 

 of their feet. Nature has done her own filtering 

 here, and the work is perfect. The heather is 

 still in full bloom in some parts ; where it has been 

 cut or eaten off, it is green, tender, and luxuriant : 

 it is new growth in this sheltered glen. I visited 

 this spot in the middle of last November, and at 

 first I fancied from the distance that the patches 



