214 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
are described in the dry state, as they are most 
commonly, not most truly, seen. They are, in¬ 
deed, dryly described. 
Without being the owner of any land, I find 
that I have a civil right in the river, that if I 
am not a landowner I am a water owner. It 
is fitting, therefore, that I should have a boat, 
a cart, for this my farm. Since it is almost 
wholly given up to a few of us, while the other 
highways are much traveled, no wonder that I 
improve it. Such a one as I will choose to 
dwell in a township where there are most ponds 
and rivers, and our range is widest. In rela¬ 
tion to the river, I find my natural rights least 
infringed on. It is an extensive “ common ” 
still left. Certain savage liberties still prevail 
in the oldest and most civilized countries. I 
am pleased to find that in Gilbert White’s day, 
at least, the laborers in that part of England 
where he lived, enjoyed certain rights of com¬ 
mon in the royal forests, so called, where they 
cut their turf and other fuel, etc., though .no 
large wood, and obtained materials for broom¬ 
making, etc., when other labor failed. It is no 
longer so, according to the editor. 
The cat-tail down puffs and swells in your 
hand like a mist, or the conjuror’s trick of fill¬ 
ing a hat with feathers, for when you have 
rubbed off but a thimble full, and can close and 
