A LAKE-SIDE OUTING. 223 



conspicuous ; but not so the scattered asters, 

 which were large and very blue ; more so, in- 

 deed, than any that I saw elsewhere. 



The proportion of clay in the cliff differed ex- 

 ceedingly, and where it was greatly in excess of 

 the sand had withstood the destructive action of 

 wind and wave, and stood out in great pillars, 

 walls, and turrets, that suggested at once the 

 ruins of ancient lake-side castles. 



Leaving the cliff, not because weary of it, but 

 to crowd a week's outing into an hour, the party 

 turned to a deep, shady, vine-entangled ravine. 

 I was happy. Indifferent to the geology ably 

 explained by one, to the botany by another, to 

 the beauty as extolled by the artist, I found a 

 rustic seat and feasted upon raspberries. To eat 

 is a legitimate pastime of the confirmed rambler. 

 One's eyes and ears should not monopolize all 

 the good things in nature; but these again 

 were not neglected, for I stopped eating when 

 the berries gave out and toyed with the beau- 

 tiful seed-pods of the Actcea, or bane-berry. 

 This I never find near home, and so its novelty 

 gave it additional merit ; but it needs no ex- 

 traneous suggestiveness. The deep, coral-red 

 stems and snow-white seed-pods completely cap- 

 tivated my fancy. Bearing this as a prize, I 

 moved slowly over a pathless wild, hearing pine 

 finches to my delight, and above all other 



