FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



AUTUMN 



" There did they dwell, 

 As happy spirits as were ever seen ; 

 If but a bird, to keep them company, 

 Or butterfly sate down, they were, I ween, 

 As pleased as if the same had been a Maiden-queen." 



Wordsworth. 



Five or six hours of pleasant railway 

 travel, up the course of one river valley after 

 another, — the Merrimac, the Pemigewasset, 

 the Baker, the Connecticut, and finally the 

 Ammonoosuc, — not to forget the best hour 

 of all, on the shores of Lake Winnipisaukee, 

 the spacious blue water now lying full in the 

 sun, now half concealed by a fringe of 

 woods, with mountains and hills, Chocorua, 

 Paugus, and the rest, sliifting their places 

 beyond it, appearing and disappearing as 

 the train follows the winding track, — five 





