2/6 In Touch with Nature. 



the sun, are the dolts who bray " crank," " crank" 

 when they encounter men who can see beyond 

 their shadows ? 



Dispute, happily, ended as we turned towards 

 home, and as the horse would not or could not take 

 a quick step, we had abundant opportunity for bot- 

 anizing by the road-side, if by so dignified a name 

 one may call the gathering by armfuls of golden- 

 rod, asters, and that gorgeous September bloom, 

 gerardia. All the available space in the carriage 

 being filled with flowers, it is little wonder that pe- 

 destrians stared and children called to us. As we 

 afterwards learned, the county fair had closed the 

 day before, and we were credited with being be- 

 nighted individuals that had not been aware, at 

 the proper time, that the visitors were leaving. 

 How strangely vivid is the average imagination ! 

 All on a strictly scientific errand, and my com- 

 panions learned specialists from a great city, and 

 yet this was the impression of the villagers we 

 met ! 



Free from the gibes of one village, we were even 

 less fortunate in the next, for as the horse neared 

 the stable his pace quickened, and undue haste 



