130 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
wide enough for the wherry to turn round. 
The entrance lies between two hornbeam trees, 
which stand close to the brink, spreading over 
it their thorn-like branches and their shining 
leaves. Within there is perfect shelter; the 
island forms a high, circular bank, like a coral 
reef, and shuts out the wind and the passing 
boats ; the surface is paved with leaves of lily 
and pond-weed, and the boughs above are full 
of song. No matter what whitecaps may crest 
the blue waters of the pond, which here widens 
out to its broadest reach, there is always quiet 
here. A few oar-strokes away lies a dam or 
water-break, where the whole lake is held under 
control by certain distant mills, towards which 
a sluggish stream goes winding on through 
miles of water-lilies. The old gray timbers of 
the dam are the natural resort of every boy or 
boatman within their reach; some come in pur- 
suit of pickerel, some of turtles, some of bull- 
frogs, some of lilies, some of bathing. It is a 
good place for the last desideratum, and it is 
well to leave here the boat tethered to the vines 
which overhang the cove, and perform a sacred 
and Oriental ablution beneath the sunny after- 
noon. 
O radiant and divine afternoon! The poets 
profusely celebrate silver evenings and golden 
mornings ; but what floods on floods of beauty 
