MID-AUTUMN ALONG THE OLD CANAL. 



Old Mother Earth once more had made the circuit 

 of the sun and October, the fairest month of all the 

 year, had come again and brought with it one of its 

 perfect days. The chilling winds and hoar frosts of 

 the week before had warned the Red Man in the far 

 west of the approach of winter and, for the first time 

 this season, he had kindled his signal fires, and from 

 them the smoke, 



"Soft and illusive as a fairy's dream, 

 Lapped all the landscape in a silvery fold." 



On such a day the gypsy in my blood that desire 

 to roam and wander which I inherit from the barba- 

 rians of old asserts full strong its presence. The 

 city with its crowds and turmoil, its noisome smells 

 and impure atmosphere, becomes for a time unbear- 

 able. Only a tramp through field and forest and a 

 communion with some of the many spirits of the 

 woods will serve to curb this gypsy element and give 

 me peace of mind once more. And so on this, the 

 sixteenth day of the month, and hence the very mid- 

 dle of the autumn, I started northward, I knew not 

 whither; I cared not whither; but the old canal 

 proved a cynosure and the spirits with which I com- 

 muned are in part noted below. 



Birds, birds, always to be seen as soon as the city 

 limits are reached, always interesting always full of 



(189) 



