ALDERS AND REEDS. 83 



trout -stream, below the rails of the sluice-gates, 

 which were covered with green moss. From some 

 broken boards close to the sloping bank a white 

 head peeped out ; from our standpoint this looked 

 like the head of an owl, but the glass showed me 

 it was a cat on the look-out for mice. This place 

 has a peculiarly mournful beauty of its own. The 

 mill and the buildings surrounding it were falling, 

 though the principal timbers, of solid oak, still 

 held up the rest in some mysterious fashion. The 

 whole looked as if a good kick would make it 

 topple over. The roof-tiles, covered with lichens 

 of many colours, had sagged down in hollows. In 

 some parts where it had broken through, the ends of 

 the rotten laths that had at one time supported them 

 showed. The top part of what had been the half- 

 hatch door of the mill hung by one rusty hinge, 

 and through this opening could be seen the ruin 

 inside. Great beams had fallen, and the water 

 was whirling round some, and under others. This 

 lonely, beautiful bit of water had been one of the 

 hammer -ponds when iron was smelted here. And 

 when from some cause the industry fell off, the 

 place had been converted into a mill. Then there 



