Introduction 



hilltop with my back against a moss-clad log. 

 I wish you could see my last evening's bed- 

 room. The sun has been among the tree-tops 

 for more than an hour; the dew is nearly all 

 taken back, and the shade in these hill basins 

 is creeping away into the unbroken strongholds 

 of the grand old forests. 



"I have enjoyed the trees and scenery of 

 Kentucky exceedingly. How shall I ever tell 

 of the miles and miles of beauty that have been 

 flowing into me in such measure ? These lofty 

 curving ranks of lobing, swelling hills, these 

 concealed valleys of fathomless verdure, and 

 these lordly trees with the nursing sunlight 

 glancing in their leaves upon the outlines of the 

 magnificent masses of shade embosomed among 

 their wide branches — these are cut into my 

 memory to go with me forever. 



"I was a few miles south of Louisville when 

 I planned my journey. I spread out my map 

 under a tree and made up my mind to go 

 through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia 

 to Florida, thence to Cuba, thence to some part 



[ XIX ] 



