Where Town and Country Meet 



never see them when you take your rambles, 

 nor is there any evidence to the unaccus- 

 tomed eye that they have been there before 

 you. 



As a matter of fact, however, these sub- 

 urban and much traversed sections of coun- 

 try are still peopled, as a rule, by a goodly 

 number of their former small inhabitants. 

 As a proof of this fact, take a walk two or 

 three days after the first considerable snow- 

 fall of the winter. You will be astonished 

 to find that this apparently soundless and 

 motionless wilderness, this little desert of 

 scrub oaks and pines, is fairly populous with 

 small and active folk, who have plainly re- 

 corded their goings and comings on the soft, 

 white surface of the snow. Your supposedly 

 blank book proves to be a volume of most 

 varied and interesting contents, of which a 

 comprehensive index lies before you. In all 

 directions you behold the telltale, wander- 

 ing pathways of birds, squirrels, foxes, 

 skunks, and mice. In certain spots it would 

 almost seem as if there had been a carnival, 

 a sort of winter fair or congress of sports, 

 to which all the wood-folk of that section 

 had flocked, so numerous and varied and 

 196 



