120 In Touch with Nature. 



occupied by grave, but not forbidding, men ; the 

 wide hall resounded with the pleasant patter of 

 fun-loving youth, whose romping savored of the 

 wild woods about them. Life had its drawbacks, 

 doubtless, then as now; but who has not cast 

 loving backward glances and thought of the 

 boundless forest before the moccasin-print of the 

 Indian had vanished? It was so to-day. The 

 hands of the world-clock were set back two cen- 

 turies while I tarried in the house. 



Then, the afternoon's ramble. It is an unfor- 

 tunate taste, perhaps, but tales and traditions of 

 long ago, howsoever teeming with comedy or with 

 tragic events, are soon forgotten when, in the 

 shade of clustered hemlocks, the wild-bird's song 

 and flaunting blossoms champion the passing hour. 

 It was so to-day. Strolling over grassy fields and 

 pausing only to pay due respect to an enormous 

 hawthorn that stands like a sentinel in a wide 

 reach of pasture, we soon reached the creek-side 

 woods. No sound save the rippling of rapid 

 waters stayed our progress ; for who is not ready 

 to pause when the wood-thrush sings ? Then, 

 afar off, was heard the vehement reiteration of the 



