168 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
it proves to be like all other human paths, 
straight in intention, but slightly devious in 
deed. We have gay companions on our way; 
for a breeze overtakes us, and a hundred little 
simooms of drift whirl along beside us, and 
overwhelm in miniature burial whole caravans 
of dry leaves. Here, too, our track intersects 
with that of some previous passer; he has but 
just gone on, judging by the freshness of the 
trail, and we can study his character and pur- 
poses. The large boots betoken a woodman 
or iceman; yet such a one would hardly have 
stepped so irresolutely where a little film of 
water has spread between the ice and snow and 
given a look of insecurity ; and here again he 
has stopped to observe the wreaths on this 
pendent bough, and this snow-filled bird’s nest. 
And there the footsteps of the lover of beauty 
turn abruptly to the road again, and he vanishes 
from us forever. 
As we wander on through the wood, all the 
labyrinths of summer are buried beneath one 
white inviting pathway, and the pledge of per- 
fect loneliness is given by the unbroken surface 
of the all-revealing snow. There appears no- 
thing living except a downy woodpecker, whirl- 
ing round and round upon a young beech stem, 
and a few sparrows, plump with grass seed and 
hurrying with jerking flight down the sunny 
