Introduction 
hilltop with my back against a moss-clad log. 
I wish you could see my last evening’s bed- 
room. The sun has been among the tree-tops 
for more than an hour; the dew is nearly all 
taken back, and the shade in these hill basins 
is creeping away into the unbroken strongholds 
of the grand old forests. 
“T have enjoyed the trees and scenery of 
Kentucky exceedingly. How shall I ever tell 
of the miles and miles of beauty that have been 
flowing into me in such measure? These lofty 
curving ranks of lobing, swelling hills, these 
concealed valleys of fathomless verdure, and 
these lordly trees with the nursing sunlight 
glancing in their leaves upon the outlines of the 
magnificent masses of shade embosomed among 
their wide branches — these are cut into my 
memory to go with me forever. 
“T was a few miles south of Louisville when 
I planned my journey. I spread out my map 
under a tree and made up my mind to go 
through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia 
to Florida, thence to Cuba, thence to some part 
[ xix ] 
