62 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



object but to watch the breaking up of the ices, and to 

 mark the progress of the thousand new made rivulets, 

 that leap down the snowy mountains towards the grand 

 reservoir of waters. And there are places always to be 

 found which are inviting to the solitary pedestrian, 

 during the most uncomfortable seasons; on the sunny 

 slope of a chain of hills, or the southern border of a 

 wood, or under the banks of the seaside, where the 

 high bluffs protect one from the winds, and the sandy 

 beach affords a dry and agreeable prOmenade. 



Though the fields at this time afford to the mere vir- 

 tuoso but few inducements for his researches, yet the 

 treasures of the sea-shore are as abundant as at any 

 other season. The collector of shells would find no 

 great variety of rare specimens on our New England 

 •coast; but there are objects everywhere to be found 

 which are interesting and beautiful. It is not, however, 

 for the sole purpose of collecting curiosities to enrich 

 the variety of one's cabinet, that the true lover of nature 

 would visit her walks, in field and forest, or by the sea- 

 shore. Almost all nature's beautiful productions lose 

 their charms in my sight, as soon as they are removed 

 from her domains. I love to view them in connection 

 with those scenes for whose embellishment they were 

 evidently created ; and a garden filled with the fairest 

 flowers of all climes soon languishes upon my sight, that 

 views with rapture a solitary violet, blooming under the 

 shelter of mosses, or a primrose on a barren plain, sur- 

 rounded by sedges and wild indigo. Every object be- 

 comes more charming when associated with some agree- 

 able rural sentiment. It is for this reason that a hum- 

 ble and solitary cottage in the wilderness is a more 

 interesting object than all the courtly splendor of a 

 city. 



