XX 



INDIAN SPRING 



The way to "Indian Spring" lay through the 

 deep woods. When the August sun beat hotly on 

 the open roads, and the pitch oozed in sticky 

 bubbles from the pine sidewalks, the very thought 

 of the moist woodsy earth along this path was 

 cooling. One must needs have a whole afternoon 

 to spare for this trip, as distractions along the way 

 were many. Some people who had taken the 

 walk even went so far as to say that there was 

 more to be seen on the way 

 than at the spring itself. At the 

 very entrance to the path, where 

 it struck off for itself from the 

 main road, stood the "Big Maple," 

 the region's sole relic of the pri- 

 meval forest. Lofty, majestic, 

 solitary, it towered above the 

 tops of the hemlocks and sec- 

 ond growth beeches. One might 

 not pass it without stopping to 

 admire and glorify this noble 

 patriarch. In the edge of the 

 woods, where the ax and scythe 

 had fought with the underbrush, 

 grew marvelous clumps of Joe- 

 Pye weed over which fluttered black-eyed susans 



(105) 



