64 In Touch with Nature. 



where the road turned that a brook and noble elm 

 might remain as nature placed them, I met an old 

 man. He was sitting at the foot of the tree and 

 gazing steadily at the rippling waters before him. 

 It was a pretty picture, and I stopped to study it. 

 Then, with a woman's curiosity, I ventured to 

 speak. To have merely said " good-morning" and 

 passed on would not have sufficed. Strangely 

 enough, I was disposed to talk. Although the 

 question was absurd, " Fishing ?" I asked. 



" No ; frogging, after a fashion," he replied, with 

 an assuring smile. 



Then I drew nearer, and, resting against the tree, 

 waited for an explanation of his ambiguous remark. 



" I have been sitting here for hours watching 

 that frog," and he pointed to one squatted upon a 

 stone immediately before him. " It takes the 

 world easy, it seems to me, and, as this same 

 world provides its wants, why should not I do 

 the same, — sit still and let the world supply me ?" 



I thought I had met with some wanderer from 

 the poor-house, or the grandfather of some one of 

 my neighbors ; but instead, here was a new phase 

 of humanity, — a mild type of philosophical tramp. 



