66 IN WINTER. 



free for tlje 



Free for the day ! I scarce need tell the rest : 

 An aimless youth again, and Nature's guest. 



IF magic lurks in any four words of the 

 queen's English, it is to be looked for here. 

 Free for the day ! Neither in books nor out of 

 them have I met with a phrase more full of 

 meaning, one more comprehensively suggestive. 

 To me, eight weeks in the noisy city had seemed 

 almost a year, and at last came a pause in my oc- 

 cupation and a day to myself. No decision could 

 be reached in a reasonable time by calmly think- 

 ing the matter over, so, closing my eyes, I spun 

 myself on one heei, determined to walk a good 

 ten miles in whatever direction I faced when my 

 whirling body came to rest. Fortune favored me, 

 for I found myself looking directly toward the 

 river. This put an end to my walking ten miles 

 in a bee line, for the river was not one mile dis- 

 tant, and, except at a distant point, could not be 

 crossed. With a light heart I made for the 

 river, and, reaching the shore, sat in a cozy 

 nook where driftwood had conveniently lodged. 

 Walking is capital sport at all times, but a com- 

 fortable outlook never comes amiss, and resting 

 at the end of one mile is as natural as at the end 

 of a dozen. Thoreau speaks of looking seaward 



