HINDRANCES AND HELPS. 257 



possess none of that kindling magnetism which comes 

 from personal intercourse. Type grows wearisome 

 at last, however stocked with information and 

 gorgeous fancies ; and a man frets for the lively re- 

 bound of discussion. 



Friends from the city may drop upon you from 

 time to time, exercising this compassion for your re- 

 tirement ; and they treat you compassionately. Of 

 course the novelty of the scene and the life has charms 

 for any metropolitan, whatever his tastes ; and he 

 bears himself very briskly at the first. The view is 

 charming ; the well-water is charming ; the big oaks 

 (they are all maples) are charming. And his eye 

 falls upon a riotous hedge of Osage-orange, " Dear 

 me, that's the hawthorn ; how beautiful it is ! " 



Of course you do not correct him ; in fact, you 

 partake of his exhilaration, and seem to see things 

 with new eyes. 



" And, bless me, here's your boy (its a girl) ; how 

 old is he ? " (patting her head). 



What a fine flow of spirits he is in, to be sure ! 

 You show him up and down your grounds (always 

 ' your grounds,' he calls them, if it be only a potato 

 garden). 



Presently his eye lights upon a blooming Weigelia. 

 " Ah, a dwarf apple ! and do you go largely into 

 fruit ? " upon which you offer him a Red-Astrachan, 



