IN THE CATSKILLS 



to him. The tone of his entire being is not a little 

 elevated, and all his perceptions and susceptibilities 

 quickened. I feel that some such statement is 

 necessary to justify the interest that I felt in this 

 backwoods maiden. A slightly pale face it was, 

 strong and well arched, with a tender, wistful ex- 

 pression not easy to forget. 



I had surely seen that face many times before in 

 towns and cities, and in other lands, but I hardly 

 expected to meet it here amid the stumps. What 

 were the agencies that had given it its fine lines and 

 its gracious intelligence amid these simple, primi- 

 tive scenes ? What did my heroine read, or think ? 

 or what were her unfulfilled destinies ? She wore 

 a sprig of prince's pine in her hair, which gave a 

 touch peculiarly welcome. 



" Pretty lonely," she said, in answer to my in- 

 quiry; "only an occasional fisherman in summer, 

 and in winter nobody at all." 



And the little new schoolhouse in the woods far- 

 ther on, with its half-dozen scholars and the girlish 

 face of the teacher seen through the open door, 

 nothing less than the exhilaration of a journey on 

 foot could have made it seem the interesting object 

 it was. Two of the little girls had been to the 

 spring after a pail of water, and came struggling out 

 of the woods into the road with it as we passed. 

 They set down their pail and regarded us with a 

 half-curious, half-alarmed look. 

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