1 70;] 



BLUEBERRIES AND HUCKLEBERRIES 



July 24, 1853. The berries of the Vaccinium vacil- 

 lans [low blueberry] are very abundant and large 

 this year on Fair Haven, where I am now. Indeed, 

 these and huckleberries and blackberries are very 

 abundant in this part of the town. Nature does her 

 best to feed man. The traveller need not go out of 

 the road to get as many as he wants ; every bush and 

 vine teems with palatable fruit. Man for once stands 

 in such relation to Nature as the animals that pluck 

 and eat as they go. The fields and hills are a table 

 constantly spread. Wines of all kinds and qualities, 

 of noblest vintage, are bottled up in the skins of 

 countless berries, for the taste of men and animals. 

 To men they seem offered not so much for food as for 

 sociality, that they may picnic with Nature, — diet 

 drinks, cordials, wines. We pluck and eat in remem- 

 brance of Her. It is a sacrament, a communion. The 

 not-forbidden fruits, which no serpent tempts us to 

 taste. Slight and innocent savors, which relate us to 

 Nature, make us her guests and entitle us to her 

 regard and protection. It is a Saturnalia, and we 

 quaff her wines at every turn. This season of berry- 

 ing is so far respected that the children have a vaca- 

 tion to pick berries, and women and children who 

 never visit distant hills and fields and swamps on 

 any other errand are seen making haste thither now, 

 with half their domestic utensils in their hands. The 



