BIRCH BROWSINGS. 201 



the scene. Things looked very strange at first ; but 

 quickly they began to change and to put on familiar 

 features. Some magic scene-shifting seemed to take 

 place before my eyes, till instead of the unknown set- 

 tlement which I at first seemed to look upon there 

 stood the farm-house at which we had stopped two 

 days before, and at the same moment we- heard the 

 stamping of our team in the barn. We sat down 

 and laughed heartily over our good luck. Our des- 

 perate venture had resulted better than we had dared 

 to hope, and had shamed our wisest plans. At the 

 house our arrival had been anticipated about this time, 

 and dinner was being put upon the. table. 



It was then five o'clock, so that we had been in the 

 woods just forty-eight hours; but if time is only phe- 

 nomenal, as the philosophers say, and life only in feel- 

 ing, as the poets aver, we were some months, if not 

 years, older at that moment than we had been two 

 days before. Yet younger too, — though this be a 

 paradox, — for the birches had infused into us some 

 of their own suppleness and strength. 



