244 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



gaining a living, and of living happily. In all 

 weathers and in all kinds of places have I watched 

 their comings and their goings, their swift flights 

 and their restless trippings, now here, now there ; 

 and they are to-day as fresh and fair to me as in 

 the days of my childhood. Still I would again 

 remind my readers and my critics that I never 

 attempt to write from a scientific point of view, 

 but only aim at describing clearly what I have 

 plainly seen. 



The tide has gone down, leaving the salt-marsh 

 a steaming ague-breeding flat. There is a shallow 

 run of water in the wide creek, the navigable 

 channel. Into this hundreds of rills and gripes 

 trickle, the drainage of the ooze. So level is the 

 coast-line here that it takes a long time for the 

 water to run off the flats. The harvest is nearly 

 over, but the weather still keeps hot and dry. A 

 real sweltering marsh harvest, our old folks call it. 

 So hot is it that the whole region has fairly steamed 

 all through the day. And now the sun has gone 

 down just low enough to throw a peculiar rosy 

 golden hue over all that its light rests on. A rich 

 light this is, one that is only seen in the fen and 



