190 A NATURE WOOING. 



where smilax, saw palm, scrub oak and brambles are 

 unknown. This morn a new life begins to stir within 

 me. I know not how long it will last. I feel that new 

 ambitions should be cherished in my soul, that the 

 old should be forsaken ; that new hopes should reign 

 in my heart, that the old should be forgotten ; that a 

 new love of nature should be forever with me, that 

 the old should belong to the eternity of the past. 



I pause not until I reach the stream near the edge 

 of the pine woods ; a stream whose waters are clear, 

 yet dark; rapid flowing, yet here and there form- 

 ing quiet pools over which the dragonfly lurks, and 

 around which his prey, the humming mosquito, un- 

 wittingly flits. Here I capture several fine dragon- 

 flies, slender bodied, dark winged, handsome examples 

 of the species Argia, fumipennis Burm., and A. tibi- 

 alis Ram. One has a mosquito or allied insect in its 

 mouth, and I disturb forever its breakfast. 



Along the borders of this stream, as far as eye can 

 see, is a tangled mass of smilax, wild grape, scrub oak, 

 saw palmetto and many other forms of creeping and 

 thorny shrubs and vines; the whole forming a mass 

 through which a man would have difficulty in forcing 

 his way, but among which the moccasin, rattlesnake, 

 alligator, mud puppy, raccoon, otter and other nox- 

 ious and innoxious mud-loving forms delight, and 

 through which they pass with ease. 



High over the pine woods an osprey soars. What 

 seeks he there ? Ko mullet or minnow swims amidst 



