BERRY-TIME FELICITIES 



A nice and subtle happiness, I see, 

 Thou to thyseK proposest." 



Milton. 



Once more I am in old Franconia, and in 

 a new season. With aU my visits to tlie 

 New Hampshire mountains, I have never 

 seen them before in August. I came on the 

 last day of July, — a sweltering journey. 

 That night it rained a little, hardly enough 

 to lay the dust, which is deep in all these 

 valley roads, and the next morning at break- 

 fast time the mercury marked fifty-seven 

 degrees. All day it was cool, and at night 

 we sat before a fire of logs in the big chim- 

 ney. The day was really a wonder of clear- 

 ness, as well as of pleasant autumnal tem- 

 perature ; an exceptional mercy, caUing for 

 exceptional acknowledgment. 



After breakfast I took the Bethlehem 

 road at the slowest pace. The last time I 



