WITH THE WOODLANDERS, 

 AND BY THE TIDE. 



CHAPTER I. 



WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



WOODLAND folk-lore is fast dying out : very little 

 will be left to us after another quarter of a century 

 has elapsed. The older folks now rarely speak 

 openly about those matters which formed common 

 topics of conversation forty years ago in our wood- 

 land districts. Indeed their sons and daughters 

 profess to laugh at the superstitions (sic) in which 

 their parents still firmly believe. But their ridicule 

 is really affected : their actions constantly prove 

 them to be firm believers, in spite of themselves, 

 in what they gathered as little children from their 



A 



