Year: 1866

; crimson-crested woodpccker on tree
close by. '. t. ..
The wonders of the wood were bet
ter than Barnum's Museum, and Mr..
and Mrs. Walden took heart from the
happiness Of the children. =


GAS long as we have health and
strength we wont become low-spirited !"
said the lady.


We will not attempt to follow min
utely the journey through the unbroken
1 woods, which they soon entered but
} it were no doubt well worth some lit
tie loss of gear, ay, some great relin-
punishment of luxury and fashions such
as they were even in those days, to
spend portion fone's life i'm the fresh
ness of the May forest. The soft, paly-
green leaves not fully formed, the
grace and beauty of moss of many hues,
the varied colors of almost bare branch
es, from the crimson of the red willow
to the chalky white of the birch, mot
tied maple, brown butternut, budding
each in its curious and wonderful way,
mingled with the dark, rich evergreens,
and all these the perch and nesting
place of hundreds of little singers so
full of vitality, of joy, of love, that it
would seem an untaught savage might
thereby guess at the gracious Heart
that planned such happiness and upheld
and fed it all these were in the May
forest with rich spicy odors of hemlock
and fir, and watts of delicate fragran-
ces from hidden flowers.


For here blossomed, white and SNOWY,
the shaded flower, and there trailed,
and hid, and peeped out again from
the dead, dry leaves underfoot, the
dear, sweet pilgrim-aower, lovely
enoug gh for paradise or even the Eden
above. Look, little bright-eyed Marian
ma and Robbie the brown-red doc lead
ing her speckled twins The wood is
Joyous with life, thought Mrs. Walden,
as hares, and partridgcs, and quails,
and burrowing wild creatures moved,
with but little fear about the horses
feet, and her heart grew braver and
stronger as they went She would
care for her little ones and succor them,
taking lesson from the wild maternal
instinct of the forest, and the same
Father would gather all together under
the shadow of His wing, and feed them
from His open hand.


Coming at length to the house Of an
adventurous settler, they alighted from
their horses and were received with a
most hearty welcome by man at the
door with an axe over his shoulder.


Mother" called he, running back
some steps to the door, which was only
a faded bedquilt hanging with all the
grace of tapestry against the open
ing, Mother, here are travellers"


kindly looking, motherly woman
Immediately appeared. with wide
eyed infant in her arms, and two flax,
en-haired infants, also wide-eyed, with
astonishmcnt, hanging to her apron.
She was more glad to see them than
ever she had been her own brother and
sister, while she lived within the bounds
of civilization, she said


Here they rested over night, and the
next morning Mr. Walden, leaving his
wife and children behind, started forth
with the axe and gun, with which he
had not forgotten tn provide himself,
and a weeks provision of dried vcni-
son aud corn cakes with which the
settlers wife provided him, to hew
himself a place in the forest.


In those days government gave
whatever wild land the adventurer
chose to clear as the reward of his in
dustry and energy, and so Mr.. Walden
was sure, as long as his right arm
failed him not. Of spot on earth
which he might call his own. He
crossed branch of the Onion River,
and found there location to his mind
Here he felled trees for nearly week,
making booth for himself of hemlock
boughs for his dormitory. Saturday
at noon he took up his axe and started
to retrace bis way by the marked
trees-for he had gashed the trees, as
he went, for a guide back-wLen he
was startled by the sudden appear
ance of a woman on his clearing
Another glance and his heart leaped.
i"Delia, how came you here"


Followed your marked trees" to
be sure.


"And you came all this way, brave
little heart, To go back with me-"


Not at all, my dear. Let US spend
the Sabbath in these glorious woods,
and Monday morning We will both go
to work yes. and here is half day
of this week The children will do
very well with the people back there,
aud can help you here so much, l am
sure. See, have brought a fresh bag
Of provisions and you shall kill game,
and we will strike fire and roast
some meat"


The man Walden fell more deeply
in love with the pretty woman before
him, her cheeks aglow with exercise
and ier hair about her face, (notwith.
standing there was an unlucky rent
or two in her gown, than ever he had
done with the girl Della at party,
quilting, dance or apple-paring deep
er even than he thought he was with
that young first love-in-teens, whoev-
er she was, that seemed now, il he
thought of Err at all like an unripe



apple. .


So they staid in the woods. Mr.
Walden had already commenced to
cut an immense circle of trees, one
falling so that the top of the tree
touched the trunk of the next, making
hasty fence for as much land as he
4 thought he could ever manage TO clear,
and 10 was a good MANY acres. | as
sure you. Then the trees were cut
within the circle, and there was wild
work among the poor little birds nests,
am afraid, but the war was with the
guant wolf, hunger, and the crash of
, these little homes could not be helped
These trees were burnt TO ashes
there was better hut made, and at
. the end of The second week they went
back for their children, bringing wheat