THE FLIGHT OF THE WOOD-NYMPHS. 



ON the southern slope of a hill, nearly in the entrance 

 of a valley, stood a rustic cottage inhabited by a plain 

 industrious farmer and his family. The farm which was 

 connected with the cottage was a beautiful intermixture 

 of wood, tillage, and pasture ; and, imbosomed in these 

 natural groves, the glistening waters of a miniature lake 

 gave animation to the landscape, and became a scene of 

 rustic sport for many a youthful angler. In front of the 

 cottage was an irregular grassy slope, extending down to 

 the roadside, and wholly unenclosed. Through this natural 

 lawn a narrow footpath, leading obliquely from the road 

 to the doorstep, had been worn by the feet of passengers ; 

 tufts of wild shrubbery grew here and there about the 

 rocks that projected from the surface of the soil, and the 

 sweet fern diffused its odors within a rood of the cottage 

 windows. In the evening a small herd of cows might 

 be seen, quietly ruminating under a rugged old oak, that 

 stood about thirty paces from the house. 



In the month of May this place was a favorite resort 

 for all the children of the village, on account of the mul- 

 titude and variety of wild-flowers that grew there, and the 

 many pleasant arbors afforded by the woods that over- 

 shadowed the borders of the lake. On these green hillsides 

 they might often be seen weaving chains of the stems of 

 dandelions, or stringing white and blue violets upon a 

 thread, with which they made garlands and necklaces to 

 add to their own simple apparel. Later in the season, 

 old and young resorted hither, to gather berries that grew 



