318 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



summit, and these grew and spilled over and poured down the 

 slope to the very roadside, where they remain to this day in 

 charming confusion. And year after year the bank is flecked 

 with the pink of the roses in summer and dappled with the 

 blue of the asters in autumn. 



We pass under a great oak that stretches its long horizontal 

 boughs across our way, holding out flat canopies of leaves, 

 whose shadows run waveringly over the dust of the road. 

 We round the top of the little hill, where the view opens out 

 across a valley with a strip of sparkling water. We descend a 

 gentle slope and come upon .a low-lying meadow, bordered 

 with great masses of golden-rod and elder. We cross a 

 bridge, almost without seeing it ; for it is the sort of bridge 

 our fathers builded, a bridge of gray stone taken from the hill- 

 side ledge : a broad and solid bridge built to stand while the 

 rill runs beneath it. The rill is hidden by herbage, but we 

 hear its gurgling. What' was once a rubbish-heap below, is 

 now a blossomy mass of verdure, with virgin's-bower and 

 morning-glories running riot over it. Across the meadow lie 

 the shadows of tree- forms cast from the hill behind us, and 

 beyond the meadow rises a steep tree-clad slope, with the 

 tessellated sprays of beech and the rounded crowns of the 

 maple mingled and rising like billows to the ridge. There, a 

 few white pines stand out like sentinels. While we are look- 

 ing at the spreading herbs beneath the trees, our road turns 

 again to pass around the hill. 



So, it leads us on, with its promises of ever-new and charm- 

 ing pictures. Its vistas, disclosed at every turn, are not 

 more satisfying than are its sweet miniatures, seen near at 

 hand. These are the ripe results of many years of nature's 

 handiwork. Every nook and comer is planted with verdure 

 of incomparable design. 



This is not a road to race over, seeing nothing. No; it 

 must be travelled slowly, and a bit reverently, if one would 



