Tenants. 71 



man considered them most knowing and praiseworthy 

 birds. 



After years of unoccupancy this old mansion was at last 

 to find a human tenant. The bees were banished from 

 the chimney, the rabbit from beneath the piazza floor, and 

 the woodpeckers were to poke their heads no longer from 

 the house-side and cackle at us below, for with the natural 

 tenantry, the old man and I were forced to leave. 



It has been said by the poetess Landon that memory 

 sheds no gladness o'er the past, and that it cannot make 

 the present more bright and cheerful; yet is a pleasant re- 

 collection that lingers about the old man and the creatures 

 that sought the protection of the silent, weather-stained 

 mansion and the neighboring trees. 



Percival spoke nearer the truth when he said that 

 many hours of the past are brightened as " time steals 

 away." This is especially true of the memory of hours 

 spent afield, for a man is rarely out of touch with nature, 

 .however he may find fault with his human companions. 

 Indeed what would we do without our memories, for do 

 they not help us to mind the coming way ; and even in the 

 matter of rambling afield, the halo that hovers about our 

 previous journeys tinges the present hour, and causes the 

 surroundings to wear a special significance to each of us, 

 for we see through the spectacles of our experience. 



