EUNNING WATERS 



171 



giving up something to form a compound that 

 is the coloring neither of the sky nor of the 

 brook, but a beautiful blend of both. 



In the winter the brook is ice-bound, and its 

 only sound is the gurgle that tells where the 

 water is still running away to the sea. The 

 first fall of snow in the glen, when the hemlock 

 branches hang heavy, and the fern and bowlders 

 lie white and still beside the dark running 

 brook, certainly produces the picturesque ; but 

 after the water freezes and the snows deepen, 

 the charm of the brook has flown. It is seen 

 at its best in the hot months of summer, when 

 the moss is thick on the rocks and the shadows 

 are dark on the pool. 



Purity is always the essence of the small 

 stream, but purity is an impossibility where the 

 drained surface is not rocky or sandy. The 

 rapid run of water over clay or black loam can 

 produce only muddiness. Such is the result in 

 the brooks that come down from the alkaline 

 plains of the West, and in many of the streams 

 emptying into the Mississippi and the Ohio. 

 The brooks of Scotland draining the peat-beds 

 and heather are naturally dark, but running in 

 rocky channels they have a tendency to clear 

 themselves. The Swiss and German brooks are 



