The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1883-07-18
A WANDERING BROOK.
The Devious Course of the Water and Its
SolfioQuy TO the Flowers.


wish owned a farm just a few miles
west of Cadiz Junction. don't care cent
for the farm, but there runs through it the
crookedest little brook you ever saw. The
Star Route business is straight as the Golden
Rule in comparison with it. Crooked9 It
goes wandering though the green meadows
as though all the year were June and it had
nothing to do but kill time aud loiter about
in shady hooks and sunny beaches. Crook
ed Not silver-plated sinner that flashes
his glittering scales in the sunlight down in
the limpid ripples can tell whether he is GO
ing up stream or down. The purple. plumed
iron weed and the bending golden rod bow
ing to each other with stately grace across
the singing brook, don't know whether they
are standing on opposite sides, or, il they
are on the same side, which side it is. All
the way across the meadow 1t plays hide and
seek with itself, boxing the compass in its
erratic wanderings every hundred feet. 1t
came into the meadow, I think, when the
wind anemones were bloomingin the ice OF
the hills that fringe the farm. "0h,n my
beautiful darlings," it said, 81 will stay here
near YOU" But the wild flowers passed
away and the violets opened their blue eyes
and the buttercups shone in the grasses OF
the meadow 81 have lost my sweethearts,"
said the tickle little brook, "but the meadow
is beautiful since you came into il, and will
stay here till you are gone" And it turned
again and loitered to the north where the
wind flowers died, and eddied to the east,
where bank of violets looked shyly down
at him with their great purple-blue eyes,
and he strolled to the south, where the but
tercups, mono abashed, laughed merrily in
the golden sunlight, and he sauntered to the
west, where the wind rose shivering a little,
WIS trying on her new spring dress, which
wasn't long enough yet to cover her round,
wine-red arms. Aud by and bye the yiolets
closed their dear blue eyes, and the butter
cups faded, and the poor little brook--who
had got back nicely to the place. where he
ran under the fence to get into the meadow
when he first saw the fiower--rippled slowly
over to the wild rose again, who was now in
full dress and wore her lovely pink bonnet,
aud had clusters of buds all the way down
from her throat and shoulders to her
waist. "Ah, me-" he murmured, "my
friends are gone, and was going to run to
down to the sea and drown myself. But
you are so lovely want to stay here, where
| may see you" And SO violet and butter
cup were laid away with poor little blood
root and sailor breeches, aud by this time
the little brook had so many playmates that
wild rose and sweet brier only saw him
when he came around to that corner of the
meadow. He ran about all the time, sing.
ing down little runs with the most inimita-
bio trills babbling with family of great
hard-hearted rocks that had settled on the
edge of pool and gone into the moss bust
nels whispering to blue flags clustered un-
der the low bank playing with the tall reeds
that fringed the still pools and lingering a
long time with the groups of colts-feet
were SO many things to see and SO much to
| say in this meadow, no wonder the little
brook ran about in itlall summer long. At
last, when tho wild rose had thrown away
the pink bonnet and put ON the little rcd
winter hood, and the rushes were brown and
the colt's-foot withered, and the golden rod
was gray ana the purple iron weed was
plumed with tufts of feathery brown, it
turned to the lower end of the meadow, and
hurryed away to the Muskingum, to get
down to the Ohio and Mississippi before the
winter caught 1t and fastened it to The
meadow for the next five months. - Burlinp-
ton Halokeue.