46 B y- WA YS AND BIRD-NO TES. 



have found a tricycle the most helpful and en- 

 joyable thing in exploring the by-ways and 

 high-ways of my neighborhood. It has helped 

 me to see things that I might not have discov- 

 ered had I been on foot, and it has awakened 

 sensations never before experienced by me. 

 The mere joy in self-propulsion seems to 

 sharpen one's vision, and strengthen one's re- 

 ceptive faculties. I like to stop and sit in the 

 saddle, and peep between the rails of a fence, 

 letting my eyes follow the fresh green rows of 

 young Indian corn that reach far across the 

 level field of dark loam. From the same po- 

 sition I can make such notes and sketches as 

 will be of use to me in the future. Charming 

 physical exercise and pleasing study combined 

 make up about the most desirable of all com- 

 pounds. When I am tired of pedalling I can 

 stop in the shade of a way-side tree and draw 

 forth a book to read, or I can watch the effect 

 of cloud-shadows and wind-flaws on the rank 

 green wheat. Meadow-larks and blue-birds 

 preen themselves on the fence-stakes, field- 

 sparrows sing in the young oats, yonder or- 

 chard rings with the medley of the cat-bird. 

 Here is a good place to test the qualities of a 

 book as an out-door companion. One can find 

 out how its pages will accord with certain 

 phases of nature, so to speak. Ten to one what 

 had seemed quite perfect, read in the atmos- 

 phere of the library, will fall off to a mere skel- 

 eton in the open air. I have found that, 

 strange as it may seem, the poems of Burns 

 lose something by out-door reading, whilst cer- 

 tain passages of Tennyson, Browning, and 

 Emerson reach out and gather an increment of 

 freshness from pastoral surroundings. The 



