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EXPLORING A COUNTRY BROOK. 



quicksilver, that lie on its bottom. The minute particles or 

 golden mica in these sands, when the sun shines on them, 

 remind one of the golden sands we read of. Every- 

 thing is washed clean and bright, and the water is 

 the best glass through which to see it." 



A walk at the edge of a brook in the country, 

 stepping from stone to stone between its margin and 

 its shallow bed, or, better, its navigation, fol- 

 lowing each curve, furnishes sensations akin to 

 those felt by original explorers. The border 

 of rushes, shrubbery, and trees shuts out the civil- 

 ized landscape; the sounds of distant industry are 

 ust in the nearer prattle of the water ; and for 

 short spaces the vista is as primitive and 



THE EDGE OP A BROOK IN THE COUNTRY. 



wild as when no keel but that of the red man's canoe had 



cleft its waters. The hope and exhilaration of discovery 



revive in rounding every bend, and scenes quite familiar 



to you from the roadway become novel and fresh when seen 



from this new point of view. 



In the course of a mile along such a stream you may study 

 the whole of geography: on either hand lie continents; the wa- 

 ter between may serve for ocean, inland sea, river, or brook, as your fancy 

 dictates; the hills form a terra incognita where are the hidden sources 



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