LILY-PONDS. 181 



singing birds of the wilderness find here both sun and 

 shelter, and a vegetation more fuUy stocked with insect 

 life. Wowhere is there so much animation, apart from 

 human abodes, as on the grassy banks and wooded emi- 

 nences that surround it ; nowhere is there so much beauty 

 outside of the domain of human art. The variegated 

 wood-duck finds seclusion here among the tail rushes, 

 and subsistence near the fertile shores, abounding with 

 water-cresses and other aquatic herbs. And the youth- 

 ful angler, standing on the shore, watches with delight 

 the little spotted plover, as it runs nimbly upon the lily- 

 pads, then casts his line over beds of aquatic flowers as 

 sweet as a garden of hyacinths. 



If we thread the footpaths that make their labyrinthine 

 course around the pond, we shall be struck with the pro- 

 fusion of beauty with which nature has encompassed it. 

 These paths, the chance work of cattle, — picturesque ar- 

 tists, unconscious of their art, — constantly entice us into 

 some dew-bespangled nook, fringed with mosses and gar- 

 landed with ferns, or lead us up some gentle eminence 

 that affords a view of the pond and its irregular margia,. 

 and, through the openings of the wood, a peep into the 

 neighboring landscape. Everywhere do we meet with 

 pleasant surprises, where the precipitous banks, inter- 

 sected by rush-bearing inlets and covered with wood, con- 

 ceal all intimation of the approaching view. 



To one who is fond of quiet amusements, there is no 

 greater luxury than to float along the shores of the pond 

 in a little skiff, and survey the scenes it opens to our view 

 without wearisome toil From a boat we see only the per- 

 fect sides of the trees, where, meeting with no impediment, 

 they spread out their full and natural proportions. Here 

 every outline is perfectly shaded, with a pencilling pe- 

 culiar to nature, varied with many fantastic forms, with- 

 out uniformity, and yet without abruptness. Nature uses 



