The National tribune., 1896-10-01

| We have to bid farewell to this beloved
country, to the mountains, to Bessie the little
brown horse, to ths orchards, to tho beech
| woods, and TO all the beautiful outdoors" that
we have been living in, and 20 back to the
city, the streets, newspapers, shops and other
paraphernalia OF town.life.
/ We are just getting well acquainted. Now,
when we are quiet in the woods. the squirrels
all come chatteripg about Us, and il we are still
for long time, q partridge is sure to come
| whirring down near. The beasts seem very
curious concerning us, and il We only behave
gently, aud pretend to be Indifferent to them
| That's q great point--wc manage to see great
| deal Of them. Besides the live things in the
| woods-on the road to our favorite walk-thero
are three little calves that watch for and our
apples, and most deectablc pug, that balances
apples on his nose until his master counts
three, has been added to our visiting list. And
we must leave them all.
One of our frequent topics for discussion is
Girls" az we call our seq, and from that We
naturally drift into arguments concerning
true love-" under which head we consider
spnsterdom-its advantages and dsadvan-
tages; marriage aud second marriage. The
Ladye always caps her arguments aud finishes
the debate with one Of Portals speeches. When
she has finished quoting, l am silenced and
after awhile We talk over something else.
" You see me. Lord Bassanio. where stand.
Such as am; though for myself alone
would not be ambitious in my wish,
To wish myself much better; yet for you
4 he fych fxVeo ~ iu,Aa
A thousand times more fair ten thousand times
more rich;
That. only to stand high in your account,
might In virtues beauties. ivings, friends.
Exceed accounts but the full sum Of me
Is All unlesson'd girl. unschool'd. unpracticed;
Happy in this, she is not yet SO old
But she may learn; then happier in this
She is not bred duh but she learn;
Unppiest OF all. in that her gentle spirit
Commits itself TO yours to be directed,
As from her lord her governor, her king.
Myself and what is mine to you aud yours
Is now converted; but now was the lord
or this fair mansion, master of my servants,
Queen Ger myself; and even now. but now.
This house, these servants aud this myself
Are yours, my lord.'
Merchant of Venice.
Surely no cynicism, even as to love (which
is often the cradle Of cynicism), could Withstand
so sweet a speech.
x*x
We know now tho asters did need rain. We
had one or two long, soaking rains, and after
them the astcrs shone as blue as the skies-blue
clouds Of them in wet meadows blue broider.
les along the roadside-an airy, floating blue
like the duets in Spring that Burroughs likens
to blue mists caught lightly to the hillside.
**x
Tho night skies are often q deep, dark blue
that is surely as beautiful rs tho color in the
Italian skies, SO well loved by poets. The stars
and the moon tempt us out into the night, and
many times the heavens are SO clear and bright
we can see the Pleisdes, and with Job declare
their "sweet Influences" and the "Milkmaid's
way" and can almost make out Cassiopeia's chair
and the Serpent. Dark nights are the only
time that we are not tempted to be out of doors.
At all other times in all weathers out we 60.
II
We have what might be called an unrestricted
appreciation Of weather, be it hot, cold, rainy,
or dry. On hot days we drive over the creek
road in the shade aud watch the sun through
the leaves, tho cloud shadows on hills and
fields, the butterflies and nodding flowers A
cold, misty day we wrap ourselves in thick
cloaks and HE forth to enjoy the sights of the
thick rolling mists the dim mountains, the
dripping trees, the deserted roads and fields
A gray day, when there are no winds, no clouds,
no sun, we take a twilight walk. There is no
sunset glow; everything is lonely. At the top |
of steep hill there is little burying-ground;
in the midst great gray wooden gross spreads |
its arms to bless and protect the faithful who |
are there awaiting the Judgment day.
x*x
In an oil. garden we found crocuses in bios. |
som-pale lavender flowers that have habit |
of folding their petals up and going to sleep !
early every night. They have no leaves in the |
Fall, and have white. brittle stalks. Folks |
here call this crocus "the Resurrection plant, |
because it seemingly all dies down in the |
Spring without blossoming. and when Fall |
comes host of pretty flowers appear.
.*@
We went out for walk-the Ladye, "an-
other girl" and Ito spend the afternoon in
certain fa.orte beech wood, where the maiden
hair ferns grow, and where we had some
squirrel friends. The other girl had habit
of seeing and describing bugs. The Ladye |
and rarely see bugs, but she finds most curl.
Gus creatures aud bursts into enthusiastic de-
scriptions of them like this: "Oh, here's such a |
funny caterpillar bug, with a head made of two |
big eyes and five little eggs on each eye"
We think she has the making Of fine enty-
mologist in her. although we are more or less |
afraid of her specimens. After seeing one |
/" long green worm with pale blue points on
his back, and legs everywhere" We had bad |
dreams.
We found tutternut tree, had feast on a |
sunny rock, and came home with pounded |
fnger-naiis and stained lips and fnger-tips; |
and it was as much fun as small boy could |
have had, and Q 10-year old boy has usually a |
thousand more chances for fun than any skirt. |
wearing mortal has.