EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 15 
Spaulding, liis heirs and assigns, shall and may 
from this (?) time, and at all times forever 
hereafter, by force and virtue of these presents, 
lawfully, peaceably, and quietly have, hold, use, 
occupy, possess, and enjoy the said swamp,” etc. 
The following bears on the floating ice which 
has risen from the bottom of the meadows. 
Robert Hunt says, “ Water conducts heat down¬ 
ward but very slowly; a mass of ice will re¬ 
main undissolved but a few inches under water 
on the surface of which ether or any other 
inflammable body is burning. If ice swam 
beneath the surface the summer sun would 
scarcely have power to thaw it, and thus our 
lakes and seas would be gradually converted 
into solid masses.” 
Nature and man; some prefer one, others the 
other. But that is all u de gustibus.” It makes 
no odds at what well you drink, provided it be 
a well-head. 
Walking in the woods, it may be some after¬ 
noon, the shadow of the wings of a thought flits 
across the landscape of my mind, and I am re¬ 
minded how little eventful are our lives. What 
have been all these wars and rumors of wars, 
and modern discoveries and improvements, so- 
called ? A mere irritation in the skin. But 
this shadow which is so soon past, and whose 
substance is not detected, suggests that there 
