Winter-green 85 



of their size, and are too apt to rouse the 

 savage instinct that was the only impulse of 

 primitive man. But I kept more upon the 

 alert when again alone, and thought every 

 scratch of the ground was the footprint of 

 an animal. Not a bunch of leaves but moved 

 as might a wildcat or a skulking coon. I 

 had ceased to ramble and turned hunter, but 

 the merriest of all our winter birds recalled 

 me to my better senses. The crested tit 

 whistled here! here! and looking up I saw 

 green leaves upon the climbing smilax, and 

 looking down, winter-green was waving 

 above fresh mosses that had not been fingered 

 by the blighting frost. There was not a 

 feature of the thick woods but wore a smile ; 

 and that strange bird, by its magic, conjured 

 up every songster within hearing, and jays, 

 cardinals, kinglets, and chickadees came to 

 the very tree upon which he perched. The 

 old oak was an aviary, and what gladness 

 rang through the old woods, which are said 

 to be deserted and dreary even unto desola- 

 tion in winter ! Did I carry winter-green 

 into the town, I would be told it came from 

 a hot-house. Well, it did not come from 

 the death-like regions of your supposition, a 



