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them. Happily for us, we may wander through the Fells with- 

 out any apprehensions for our personal safety, and abandon our- 

 selves to the fullest enjoyment of the many attractive scenes 

 which Nature here will unfold to us. The wild beasts that 

 formerly invested the woodlands, are no longer here. The fierce 

 Pequots, and the warlike Tarratines have gone, and we may 

 penetrate the deepest recesses of the wildest sections without 

 fear of savage beasts or savage men. 



Let us then enter into this wilderness, yea, into its very heart, 

 where the Great Architect has reared His solemn temple, whose 

 foundation stone is the solid centre of the earth, whose pillared 

 aisles are the eternal hills and^,ales, whose spires are the lofty 

 pines, whose choral anthems are the chanting winds, and the 

 joyous out-pourings of animated Nature, and whose incense is 

 the wafted perfume of the floral hosts. 



" Shake from thy feet the dust of peopled way,^ 

 Ere thou wouldst tread these corridors. Forget 

 Thy -vvorldier lot, and lift thy soul in praise," 

 Over the hill and downward, and almost in an instant we are 

 shut out from all sight and sound of the great busy world. How 

 sweet is the morning air. How redolent with the aroma of the 

 fresh inflorescence. How melodious with the varied songs of 

 the birds. The very ground on which we tread, is resonantwith 

 music and our footsteps resound with earth's melodious pulsa- 

 tions as we pass along. Our path is lined and all the hollows 

 filled with white birches, poplars and oaks, with willows and 

 pines here and there intermingled. 



As we follow the path onward and upward to higher ground, 

 we pass a long range of steep cliffs, and the observatory hills 

 from whose summits we obtain fine views of the teeming valleys 

 of the Mystic and the Blue Hills of Milton. 



Beyond Observatory Hills, our path slopes downward through 

 a rough pass between high ledges, and a short distance from the 

 path,' on the west side of the ledge to our right is Bear Den. 



One very naturally expects to hear some thrilling bear story 

 associated with this den, supposed to have been at some time an 

 abiding place for illustrating bruin, but the only story that has 

 come to me, is one relating to a man who crawled inside of the 

 den and made a fire, the warmth from which brought out from 

 the crevices a few harmless snakes, which his terror magnified 



