A WINTER WALK IN THE WOODS. 



ANNE W. JACKSON. 



LAST week I had the good fortune 

 to be invited with two other 

 girls to spend a few days in the 

 country. We hailed the invita- 

 tion with delight and accepted it with 

 alacrity, for we all three love to get out 

 into the woods and fields. 



We started on Friday afternoon, go- 

 ing the first part of the journey by train. 

 The sky was cloudy and the weather 

 mild. We watched the moving pictures 

 that sped by the car windows as eagerly 

 as children. 



After a half-hour's ride we arrived at 

 a little "town" consisting of the station, 

 one store, one house, one grain eleva- 

 tor, and a blacksmith's shop. Here 

 our hostess met us with a surrey and 

 pair, and we were soon driving along at 

 a brisk pace, drinking in the fresh air 

 and country scenery with pure delight. 

 The person whose power of enjoyment 

 in little things has become blunted, is 

 greatly to be pitied. "Ours was as 

 keen as though newly sharpened for 

 the occasion; and nothing we saw, from 

 the fields, trees, and hedges, to the set- 

 ting sun, failed to give us pleasure. 



A merry drive of three or four miles 

 brought us to the farm-house, where we 

 were cordially welcomed. 



I should like to tell you about all the 

 fun, we had that night, for it was our 

 hostess' birthday, and there was a sur- 

 prise party, at which ive were as much 

 surprised as she was. But as it is our 

 walk I'm going to tell about, I must 

 leave the events of our first evening 

 unrelated. 



The next morning we three girls de- 

 cided to take a walk, as we were anx- 

 ious to see what birds there were about. 

 It was a gray day, threatening rain, and 

 very wild for December. 



The moment we set foot out of doors 

 the distant "caw-caw" of the crows 

 sounded like an invitation in our ears. 

 How I love that sound! It is to the 

 ear what a dash of color is to the eye. 



We took the road to the right, where 

 we saw some woods a quarter of a mile 

 or more away, 



Before we had gone far we heard a 

 medley of bird notes coming from the 

 fields on our left. We couldn't make 

 out what they were, as they were some 

 distance away, but I caught a note now 

 and then that sounded like a fragment 

 of the meadow-lark's song — just a faint 

 reminiscence of it. 



After passing two pastures and a 

 cornfield on our left, we came to a piece 

 of thin timber land. The road, which 

 began to descend here, had been cut 

 down somewhat, leaving banks more or 

 less steep on either side. We went 

 along slowly, stopping frequently to 

 examine the beautiful mosses and lich- 

 ens which abounded. We had seen no 

 birds, with the exception of a wood- 

 pecker, at close range yet. 



Presently we came to a turn in the 

 road which led us up a slight rise of 

 ground, bordered on both sides by 

 woods. Arrived at the top of this hil- 

 lock we loitered about looking at the 

 many interesting thing that are always 

 to be seen in the woods. All at once 

 we were startled by a shrill scream, or 

 cry, which sounded like some young 

 animal being strangled, and behold! an 

 mimense hawk flew off over the tree- 

 tops. It didn't fly very far though, and 

 gave us more of its music at intervals. 



The road from this point led down to 

 a small brook spanned by a wooden 

 bridge. Looking down toward this 

 bridge, a gorgeous sight met our eyes. A 

 flock of cardinals, half a dozen or more, 

 were flying and sporting about among 

 the low bushes near one end of it. What 

 a delicious touch of color for a winter 

 landscape! There were chickadees, 

 too, hopping about among them in a 

 most neighborly fashion. We watched 

 them closely, quietly drawing nearer 

 and nearer. Pretty soon they flew into 

 the trees close by, and from thence 

 deeper into the woods. We saw and 

 heard many woodpeckers, both the 

 downy and the hairy being very plen- 

 tiful. 



As the place where we had seen the 

 redbirds was such a pretty one, we 



