Up Sterling 



agreeable because of the consciousness of 

 an excellent lunch in my haversack, pre- 

 pared by loving hands for just such an 

 emergency. 



An ice-cold brook, trickling over a ledge, 

 decided the matter, and, though it was but 

 eleven o'clock, I flung off my haversack 

 and sank down on the mossy bank at the 

 foot of the ledge to eat my lunch. That 

 was a royal half-hour! With my drink- 

 ing cup at my side, replenished often from 

 the crystal cold brook, and my dainty but 

 abundant lunch spread out on a snowy nap- 

 kin before me, I reclined at ease, refreshing 

 my inner man of the flesh with viands fit 

 for a king, and my still more inner man of 

 the spirit with the beauty of that unspoiled 

 mountain forest, the low twittering of Oc- 

 tober birds, and the silvery tinkle of the 

 brook. 



While I was eating, a red squirrel came 

 hitching down the trunk of a tree, and 

 stopped on the stub of a broken limb to 

 bark and scold at me. He was scarcely 

 six feet away, and I playfully threw a bit 

 of egg-shell at him. He disappeared with 



