t^^t &(ii of ti}t BckxCb 



to enter and tread the paths where so long I had 

 slipped to and fro as a shadow. 



But what a pity ever to cross such a country! ever 

 to map these unexplored child-lands to a scale of 

 after years ! I tramped the Bear Swamp over from 

 edge to edge, letting the light of day into the deep- 

 est of its recesses, and found — a turkey buzzard's 

 nest. 



The silent streams, the stumps, the trails, I found, 

 too, and there, it seems, they must be found a cen- 

 tury hence ; but the haunting mysteries of the great 

 swamp fled away before me, and are gone forever. 

 So much did I pay for my buzzard's nest. 



The cost in time and trouble was what came near 

 undoing my good uncle, with whom I was staying 

 near the swamp. *'What in thunderation ! " he ex- 

 claimed, when I made known my desires. *'From 

 Boston to Haleyville to see a buzzard's nest ! " As 

 there are some things that even one's wife cannot 

 quite understand, I did n't try to reason the matter 

 of buzzards' nests with an uncle. If it had been a 

 hawk's nest or a cardinal's, he would have thought 

 nothing strange. But a buzzard's ! 



Perhaps my years of absence from the skies of the 

 190 



