314 DATS OUT OF DOORS. 



He who regrets not his lost youth may make an excellent 

 angel, but has proved his manhood to have been de- 

 fective. 



And now let us consider the main features of this 

 noble spring. It is never frozen. The vast volume of 

 water, rushing upward from a silvery sand-pit, twenty 

 feet below the meadow's surface, varies but a degree or two 

 the year round. With this great depth is proportionate 

 width, and a pond fifty feet in diameter is not insignifi- 

 cant in these monotonous meadows ; while as a spring it 

 is worthy of notice, even where nature is on a grander 

 scale than here. 



But why call it green? Colorless water and white 

 sand ; let the sunlight play what tricks it my, it will never 

 make them green. True, but with them grow, in rank pro- 

 fusion, beautiful water starwort, a water spearwort, and 

 that dainty aquatic growth, Nitella ; and of late, a splendid 

 water moss that threatens to crowd out the other growths ; 

 while hard by the common water- weed covers the bottom 

 of the spring's overflow, making a beautiful background 

 for the brighter and lighter colored starwort. Do you 

 wonder why I call it green at this time and place ? That 

 is, surely, the predominating color. 



And that such favored nooks are beloved of water 

 animals is not strange. With what a stony glare the pike 

 looks up at me, as I stand by, motionless; but trusts 

 nothing if I move my arms. Then he is afar off on the 

 other side, as I see by the quivering of the rank water 

 weeds that would puzzle any other creature to penetrate. 

 As he goes, the dainty newts peep from their leafy quarters, 

 stretch themselves in the open water, and are gone ; while 

 ever and anon the brilliant leopard-frog rises up to the 

 surface, sniffs at the outer air, and seeks repose again in 

 the sandy depths. 



There is no moment of the year when this spring 



