AMONG THE CLOUDS. 



ONE of the prime requisites 01 an ideal summer 

 home is a wide horizon circle, and an 

 unobstructed view of the firmament which 

 domes it. For nobody lives out of doors, in any 

 true and large sense, unless he is constantly in touch 

 with the sky and the clouds which so often fill 

 it. The wise and affectionate devotee of nature will 

 therefore pay cheerfully a good round tariff for a 

 fine sky-prospect, and bear much weariness 01 ap- 

 petite at the table for the sake of a good diet of 

 clouds. 



For one, I have always had a passion for clouds, 

 and, without being a person of glaring impracticability, 

 I have passed much of my life among them. So that 

 it has come to be an indispensable feature of every 

 well-spent day to consult, and study, and hobnob 

 with the clouds. It is a function which 1 regard as 

 partly a duty and partly a privilege. For it is a 

 man's duty to know something of what is going on 

 in the world around him, the signs of the times and 

 the status quo ; and there are no truer or more reliable 

 guides and interpreters in the external world than the 

 clouds. Nor can any higher privilege be given one 



