132 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
that thing were expected to carry more than 
one, — plainly implying by labored emphasis 
that it would occasionally be seen tenanted by 
even less than that number. Transcendental 
friends inquired, with more refined severity, if 
the proprietor expected to meditate in that 
thing. This doubt at least seemed legitimate. 
Meditation seems to belong to sailing rather 
than rowing ; there is something so gentle and 
unintrusive in gliding effortless beneath over- 
hanging branches and along the trailing edges 
of clematis thickets ; — what a privilege of fairy- 
land is this noiseless prow, looking in and out 
of one flowery cove after another, scarcely stir- 
ring the turtle from his log, and leaving no 
wake behind! It seemed as if all the process 
of rowing had too much noise and bluster, and 
as if the sharp, slender wherry, in particular, 
were rather too pert and dapper to win the 
confidence of the woods and waters. Time has 
dispelled the fear. As I rest poised upon the 
oars above some submerged shadow, diamonded 
with ripple-broken sunbeams, the fantastic No- 
tonecta or water-boatman rests upon his oars 
below, and I see that his proportions antici- 
pated the wherry, as honeycombs antedated 
the problem of the hexagonal cell. While one 
of us rests, so does the other; and when one 
shoots away rapidly above the water, the other 
