96 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



wlien it is shown more than it had hoped 

 for. This is preeminently true of rare war- 

 blers. Now I would cross the bridge, walk 

 once more under the arch of willows, — 

 happy that I could w^alk, being a man only, 

 — and back to the village again by the up- 

 per road. For a half mile on that road the 

 prospect is such that no mortal need desire 

 a better one. 



First, however, I must train my glass upon 

 a certain dark object out in the meadow, to 

 see whether it was a stump (it was motion- 

 less enough for one, but I did n't remember 

 it there) or a woodchuck. It turned out to 

 be a woodchuck, erect upon his haunches, 

 his fore paws lifted in an attitude of devo- 

 tion. The sight was common just now in 

 all Franconia grassland, no matter in what 

 direction my jaunts took me. And always 

 the attitude was the same, as if now were 

 the ground-hog's Lent. " Watch and pray " 

 is his motto ; and he thrives upon it like a 

 monk. Though the legislature sets a price 

 on his head, he keeps in better flesh than 

 the average legislator. Well done, say I. 

 May his shadow never grow less! I like 



