locate him. For some time no rabbit was visible, 

 when I chanced again upon a little gray stump 

 covered with bufF-tinted fungi, which appeared 

 this time on the pine-needles and just within the 

 charmed precindts of the briers. 



I produced an apple as a peace offering and in 

 token of my good-will and desire to be of service 

 to the tribe of gray rabbits. He remained like a 

 stone while the bits of apple descended about him 

 and lay at a tempting distance. At last there was 

 a more vigorous wobbling of the nose, the long 

 ears moved — as a leaf turns — and with two little 

 hops he approached and accepted the token, and 

 we were brought together in amity in the silent 

 woods, A humble offering, indeed, but it served 

 for the moment to bring me in touch with the 

 wild and to strike a common chord. The seem- 

 ingly impassable barrier of caste, which lies between 

 man and the wild things, was crossed, and we broke 

 bread together. 



After a light fall of snow it is instrudive to read 

 what the rabbit has written in his diary. Such 

 scattered notes as he leaves are wholly personal 

 and do not seem to imply interest in anything 

 but himself. You may see where he has hopped 



147 



