My First Summer 



reappear a hundred yards farther on at the 

 other, their progress betrayed only by the 

 jerking and trembling of the fronds ; and 

 strange to say very few of the stout woody 

 stalks were broken. I sat a long time be- 

 neath the tallest fronds, and never enjoyed any- 

 thing in the way of a bower of wild leaves 

 more strangely impressive. Only spread a 

 fern frond over a man's head and worldly 

 cares are cast out, and freedom and beauty 

 and peace come in. The waving of a pine 

 tree on the top of a mountain, a magic 

 wandin Nature's hand, every devout moun- 

 taineer knows its power ; but the marvel- 

 ous beauty value of what the Scotch call a 

 breckan in a still dell, what poet has sung 

 this ? It would seem impossible that any one, 

 however incrusted with care, could escape the 

 Godful influence of these sacred fern forests. 

 Yet this very day I saw a shepherd pass 

 through one of the finest of them without 

 betraying more feeling than his sheep. 

 "What do you think of these grand ferns?" 

 [ 54 ] 



