Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-18
VISIT TO OLD SWAMP
BRINGS BACK MEMORIES OF
ONES BoYHOoD DAYS.
Same Old Frogs, Turtles and Water
Snakes Are There-0dor of De-
caying Sticks and Leaves.
Written for The Star.

Written for The Star.
If you wish to feel like a boy again know
Of few quicker ways to do it than to HE you
to a good swamp. preferably one you knew
during your school days. take off your shoes
and stockings. roll your trousers as high as
you can get them. and wade right into the
mud and water. You'll find 1t is not neces-
sary to wait until the leeches begin to fasten
on your bare legs before you can realize how
young you are. At the very first step out
from the bank. when the mud begins to
squeeze its way up between your toes, you
will find the boyish smile creeping over your
face, and it will grow broader and broader
as the bubbles gurgle up from the bottom,
and as you get Whit Of the odor Of de-
caying sticks and leaves. which at one time
you may have considered mot half bad
and which even now you can tolerate Tor
the sake Of old times.
You will find that the swamp is not quite
so large as it appeared to you when you
stood four feet six. but in every other way
you will find it exactly as it was in the old
days. Out in the middle where, according
to tradition. it had no bottom. you will re-
member, the little fleet Of scented water
lilies swing at their moorings and over
along the farther bank, where you once
pushed Jimmy Brown into the water SO far
that not only his trousers but the lower end
of his shirt was wet. the stately bulrushes
stand guard as of yore. The red-winged
bla ok birds. too. which hover about your
head, and which vigorously state their
objections TO your presence near their nest
In that tussock of grass behind you appear
to be the verv same birds which scolded you
when you were boy. If they are not the
same, certainly the fact cannot be detected
by your eye or ear.
Same Old Frogs.
Splash along little, not too noisily, and
you will meet many more Of your boyhood
friends. Over there, under the same old
bank, you will see the same old frogs, or
others exactly like them, sitting just where
you left them years ago. There is the all
green fellow that so often used to sit in
the water with nothing but his head stick
ing out, and say "G-m-G-m' from time
to time, in the most solemn tone in the
world. He does the same thing now, par
ticularly at night. Beyond him sits pick
erel frog and a leopard frog is sQuatting at
the foot of the old stump, a little farther
on. ~
You may remember their names or not
1t makes no difference; you remember their
stripes and spots, and as, one by one, they
leap in, descending in graceful curves to
the water, which they enter with a ''plunk, :"
you mind you Of the days when vacations
were more frequent and less expensive than
you find them today. One of the frogs
disappears at once in cloud Of mud which
he .stirs up at the bottom, but another
strikes out bravely for the middle of the
swamp. And he swims in just the same
way as did the frogs of your boyhood, his
forearms motionless and doubled In close
to the body and his hind feet spurning the
water with all the power of his muscular
legs. Now he reaches a lly.pad. where ne
rises. places his crooked little hands on
the rim of the leaf. lets his long hind legs
hang down into the water. while ne olinks
at you with his brilliant eyes.
Look out when you take your next step
or you may put your foot within thin reach ,S oa
mouth Of the little stream which trickles
into the swamp. Now you have taken no
tice of him, you sec he has Withdrawn ms
head below the surface Of the water ana
a few bubbles rise where. he went down
Better catch him and have look at MN MN
for the sake of old times. but be careful
YOU catch him by the tail and not by the
business end. as your old schooimate
"Souirt" Perkins did the day of the school
picnic over in Smiths woods.
Swapping Turtles and Water Snakes.
Wen, like many another thing you've
chased and captured. he's not quite so large