120 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



Chapter VII. 



UNDER THE MAPLES. 



There is a lively interest among students of history 

 and society in the uncovering of rubbish heaps and 

 the reconstruction of village communities out of insti- 

 tutional hints. I have found my pleasure in unearthing 

 the villages and farms and pasture-lands and battle-fields 

 which lie under my maple-trees. Every year the busy 

 life goes on there, whether I watch it or not ; it is a 

 microcosm of that world which my daily newspaper 

 reports ; for here among the ants are the builders of 

 cities, the governors and leaders, the masters of slaves, 

 the harvesters, the herdsmen, and the mechanics. No 

 emancipation proclamation has yet been issued, but there 

 are wars and rumors of wars. 



Failing to discover the official records of these busy 

 creatures — too busy, may be, to trouble themselves about 

 history — I have kept a journal of my observations. 

 I have had, moreover, the opportunity of comparing 

 the observations which I have made under my North- 

 ern maple -trees with what I have seen at the South, 

 and I record with pleasure' the fact that there is more 

 common ground of pursuit between the two sections 



