5 UMME R 



§3 



by the friends of my school-days, the hours fly fast and pleasantly. There 

 is plenty to talk about. Here is a village full of good people of whom I 

 wish to learn, and there are many far-off chums of whom I carry tidings. 

 A bell rings in the cupola as one by one, from the buzz in the outer 

 rooms, boys large and small seek 

 our seclusion for the accustomed 

 good-night adieu ; and ere another 

 hour has passed forty sleepy ur- 

 chins are packed away in their 

 snug quarters. The evening runs 

 on into midnight, as with stories 

 of the past, its pains and penalties, 

 its remembrances, now humorous 

 now sad by turns, we recall the 

 srood old times ; and the " wee sma' 

 hours " are already upon us as we 

 reluctantly retire from the goodly 

 company to our rooms across the 

 way. 



The next morning finds us 

 in the midst of a merry load, "a 

 with Mr. Snug as a driver ; ■ 

 and many and varied were 

 the beauties that opened up '■-' 

 before us on that charming 

 ride ! Snug Hamlet, once called 

 Judea, in the qualities of its land- 

 scape as well as in everything else, 

 is unique. Stripped of all its old 

 associations, it presents to the artistic 

 eye a combination of attractions scarce- 

 ly to be equalled in the boundaries of 

 New Ens;land. Situated itself on the 



brow of an abrupt hill, where its picturesque homes cluster about a broad 

 open green, a few minutes' drive in any direction reveals a surrounding 

 panorama of the rarest loveliness. Five hundred feet below us, winding 

 in and out, now beneath leafy tangles, now under quaint little bridges, 

 and again reposing placidly in broad mill-ponds, the happy Shepaug lends 



TOLLING FOR THE DEAD. 



