192 president's addeess. 



summer, had favoured the growth and bloom of many autumnal 

 flowers, and the ferns and foliage were still fresh and green, 

 and contrasted well with the sombre greys of the crags and 

 " glidders" of the lofty sides of the valley. The burn, swollen 

 with recent rains and stained with peat from the hills, came 

 sparkling along in the sunshine, now in mid-valley, now half- 

 hidden under the foliage of the steep bank, for sometimes 



" It flows through alder banks along, 

 Beneath the copse that hides the hill : 

 The turbid stream you cannot see, 

 You only hear its melody ; 

 Pass on a little way, pass on, 

 And you shall catch its gleam anon." 



And thus chatting and laughing, hoping for a continuance of the 

 fine morning, and observing the novelties of the surrounding 

 scenery, we quickly arrived at the end of the carriage road, 

 Langleyford farm house, surrounded with evergreens and pines, 

 stables, and byres, and noisy with the foaming burn, barking 

 collie dogs, ducks, and poultry. Here the conveyances are left, 

 and a start made along rougher, unbeaten tracks for the foot of 

 the hill we are ambitious to ascend. Presently the track is left, 

 and we proceed onward uphill, through acres of blooming 

 heather, rank brackens, and tall coarse grass, rising ridge above 

 ridge, as the top of the hill seems to recede farther and farther 

 the higher we ascend. Then some ominous black clouds appear, 

 and the blue sky is rapidly concealed from sight, small drops of 

 moisture begin to fall, which gradually increase into a driving 

 pelting shower; still we plod on, surrounded with the dense 

 cloud that has drifted down from the mountain top, till complete 

 saturation drowns all hope of reaching the top, and then all the 

 party, except one or two, who determined to brave the storm 

 and reach the summit, turned their faces downwards and beat 

 an ignominious retreat to the lower part of the valley, raising 

 on the way two beautiful Herons in fine plumage. They soon 

 reach the shelter of byres and stables at Langleyford, consoling 

 themselves with the reflection that many a Cheviot tourist has 

 endured the same fate, for 



