Windfalls 171 



of a mill-pond. The little clump of trees 

 near my chamber window is forest enough 

 for a lifetime. Every one of the two hun- 

 dred trees has fifty branches, and here are 

 hidden ten thousand marvels that are yet to 

 be made plain. The modest plateau that 

 rises but seventy feet above the river is 

 sufficient of a " cliff upreared in liquid 

 air" when its modest tree-growth attracts 

 the birds and shelters many a beast that 

 startles the unthinking traveller who passes 

 in the night. Here, too, in such common- 

 place surroundings have been generations of 

 jolly good men and women, brave as lions 

 and gentle as lambs, a great deal better 

 every healthy way than most of the world's 

 heroes and fame-crowned beauties. Perhaps 

 it is the frost in the air of this bright 

 October morning that has benumbed my 

 wit. I am not sure at what the authoress 

 I have quoted is driving, so I will take 

 myself to the orchard, seeking the fruit 

 of " the bending orchard bough," as I had 

 planned, and indulge in simple pleasures. 

 Give me plain substantiality in all things. 

 A hickory staff is better reliance than many 

 a gold-headed cane. The bow of the archer 



