Windfalls 195 



it, and look long at the windfalls, often, 

 before I stoop to gather them. It is pre- 

 eminently a loitering place, and yet where 

 we can never be quite inaftive. If the trees 

 do not appeal to me, as is sometimes the 

 case, the birds in the branches will surely do 

 so ; or, if they are gone, then the weeds that 

 have not been crushed beyond recognition. 

 There is always an aggressive feature that 

 attacks your eye or ear or nose, an assertive 

 something that holds you back, and you not 

 only loiter, but tarry longer than you in- 

 tended. This is the peculiar merit of an 

 orchard ; it is a happy combination of both 

 field and forest. The hermit of Notting- 

 ham recorded in his journal, " If I must 

 ever leave these woods, must go again into 

 the open country, then let my cottage be in 

 an orchard. Nowhere else do the birds 

 find such congenial homes, as if man, for 

 once, had brought about an improvement 

 over nature. The robin that sang in father's 

 orchard sang as never its kind has done 

 since." 



I have long had very much the same 

 fancy. There is a charm in the shade of 

 long rows of apple-trees that is recognized 



