300 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



others, stands the largest of the oaks that cluster here, a 

 majestic growth of mighty girth " the noblest Roman of 

 them all." For how long it has withstood the winter 

 storms and summer heats of New England's fickle climate 

 it were in vain to conjecture ; yet, guided by what is 

 known of oaks the world over, it is safe to say that this 

 one had burst its acorn-shell before Columbus sighted the 

 Western Continent. And for him who loves an outing, 

 it is something to stand beneath the outreaching branches 

 of a tree that has doubtless sheltered many an Indian, 

 and may have, deeply imbedded within it, the illy aimed 

 arrowheads of the stone-age hunter. 



Leaving the old oak for a time, we passed along the 

 curious heap of earth and stones upon which it stands. 

 I can recall nothing that offers a similar outlook at 

 home to that which presents itself when walking on the 

 crest of the kame, except, perhaps, the high railroad bank 

 that skirts the Delaware River meadows. Before reaching 

 its termination, I thought of the great Serpent Mound in 

 Ohio; but this ice-age mound is straight, not tortuous, 

 and suggested rather a legless lizard that had gorged 

 itself with loose stones until its skin had burst. 



On either side of the kame was an undulating mead- 

 ow, rough and wrinkled with outcropping rocks as the 

 skin of a warty toad. Near by flows Beaver Brook, which 

 I was compelled to cross, and learned then and there how 

 sadly at fault were my level-country legs. There is a 

 world of comfort in feeling that your footing is sure. 

 The tussocks in the home meadows never fail me, but I 

 had no faith in those gloomy, ice-bespattered rocks. 

 They seemed to take the world quite coolly, with spark- 

 ling waters at their feet, and armed cap-a-pie with icicles, 

 but I could not. Rocks and rapids, I maintain, are pretty 

 features of a road-side, but poor substitutes, particularly in 

 winter, for the highway itself. How my companion 



