166 
RURAL HOURS. 
I 
There was the usual procession at noon : a prayer, reading the 
Declaration of Independence, a speech, and dinner. The children 
of the Sunday-school had also a little entertainment of their own. 
Frequently there is a large pick-nick party on the lake, with dan- 
cing, in honor of the day, but this year there was nothing <»f the 
kind. In the afternoon matters seemed to drag a little ; we met 
some of the country people walking about the village, looking in 
rather a doubtful state of enjoyment ; they reminded us of the 
inquiry of a pretty little French child at a party of pleasure, where 
things were not going off very briskly ; fixing her large blue eyes 
earnestly on an elder sister’s face, she asked anxiously, “ Eugenie, 
dis moi done est ce que je nC amuse ?” About dusk, however, we 
were enhvened by the ascent of a paper balloon, and fire-works, 
rockets, serpents, fire-balls, and though not very remarkable, 
everybody went to see them. 
Thursday, bth . — Fine day. The locust-trees are in great 
beauty. Their foliage never attains its full size until the flowers 
have fallen ; it then has an aftergrowth, the leaves become larger 
and richer, taking their own peculiar bluish-green. The lower 
branches of a group of young locusts before the door are noAV 
sweeping the grass very beautifully. These trees have never been 
trimmed ; is not the common practice of trimming om* locusts a 
mistake, unless one wishes for a tall tree at some particular point ? 
Few of our trees throw out their branches so near the ground as 
to sweep the turf in this way, and wherever the habit is natm-al, 
the effect is very pleasing. With the locusts, it is their large pin- 
nated leaves which cause the branches to droop in this way, or 
perhaps the ripening pods add their weight also, for it is only 
about midsummer, or just at this season, that they bend so low as 
