{tetters to Ge, o o II, ijoxe-:I1 }

Iil-e:na
J"
Co3'ke-,ndal-1
Frsse I'Jritings
Pairt IIf
ueesrcns in Lamoka YaIl ey
{tetters to
Ge,
o
o II,
ijoxe-:I1 }
?g -5 93
Hfiffi,jA
J.
ffOYffiji]d-r$ffi
FffiT},SE $ffi,TTTi'$GS
Lamoka
Valley d. Tntrod.uction r..c.,ir..o
I.Ilustrati"ons by
(4 pases)
$.l]Inmer
in
Srenroka
ES"
1le}Iey .oc...)...orr...
furtumn in Tramoke Valley roi...r.,.r,c.i,
lEtrlnter in Lamoka Valley .i;..c...o.o..r.
$prfng in
f*,
La"moka trI413-ey
o*...r.,rec....c
0..
1900
1900
1900
1901
Lannoka
Yal1€flr ffioner. Schffi'leJr Cot:nty,
Lamoka
Valley
Hew
Iork Sfiate LWT *-79?5
-- Introduction
hlew York there is &
section knor-rrr &s the Finger takes fiountr*y' It
is & d.elightful region of hiIIs, vallsysr
streems and lakes, The lmkes very ln size from
& few &eres, as those neinr ffionora in $tuben
Sount;y, to those fifty-mlles long:' $eno.Sca,
Cm,;fagm, Keuka, and #anandagUa. Lanroka f s one
of the snaller lakes in S*huyler ffounty and is
about two-miles long and" three*quar"Lers of a^
raile wide,
fn s+uthern and eentral
It is tho center of & velley four or five-mi.Ies
ecross enC is surrounded. by' hilIs from three.hundred to turo*thotlsand feet high ** Er rr:ra1
country inhmbited by prosperous and conten#ed
farmers+ hying seven miles from a rallroed and
hmving no umnufacturing plants, j.t has becor.:e &
favorite resort region for those who wtsle to
rest ln guiet and. enjoY nature"
In the litt1e v:llage cf ffione' I w&s born i"n
the year 1s57r and lived. there untrl I wa$
twenty*elght. the descriptions r,lritten herej-n
are q;rri"te faithftfl*
8.. *T* floykendall
?8
of Grisfur-l11
ffioqgr l{:Ir k
Baek
\*
itru
'
'
1
QD
\r$
\li
-
! i rfJiEs
ntr'{
'i
Hfnlet
to
ila,ke Lamoka
:.
" i.
i
'it
.,i
rt'*$
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,'\*a.
, ; v#*'
"Ji
u'
d..:
.:,.o,*,,a..,\
n$4:
1_
,
fobyh&nn&
:
i
Creek bridge
3 types of fences ln lane
and big roeks along
fence
fCIw.
,!.,,
at ElmorlUi-r i{.Y.
,.L**.
Lamroka
teke fram h:i-Ils above Tpone, H.T.
Lemoku+
lekeshore
Lamr.oke
lu.keshore
..,-"r,tsdr+r''s'h'
i
,*fls,*6w'"'
--dr$n&da/dn-4u*'{6\wn#,&fls45"---
r'ita
dssal 4 \*n
r'Jr'
i
ttt
ilr*-t-tt-'-*-*".dcr@F
*\
.=\r
.t
{d
F'leett s Le.nding eottages on Lamoka
&i\
,t
''*
to
.J
riilrv1li"arrf,rra\'--'
*ryH',h*t
Eerryfteld
. .
4.i
_,r{
{
r\t{Pr_ -r ;u ' "e^'k
.,iidri!.
lr.:i(rl
ttsFrr)i\-?Fr\!1.:.v"r.-"81q,+a
\
JuIy 7,
190# l " $ursffier
ln
tamolca
{lett*rs to fieo* H,, Boxa}I }
Cliftcn Johnson teII us something of footpaths j-n hls English Hedgerowsr f roas charured wlth what ho says, and could I write as ne111,
would charm you with a deseription of our oun. Many people, 5.ndeed,
go lnto rapture over the English footpaths without even so muoh as
knowing that we have them right here in Nerq York $tete- I believe f
have never told you of the path neer Sr father?s housel but there it
j.s and to lna1k in it day after day ls to become acqualnted with nearly
every variety of floral vlld life. Fruits also abound. and blrd.s are
astoni shingLy plentifirl.
t'lhiIe walklng not more than a half mj-Ie along the path, I ran upon
fo$3 blrd$ nosts, and I have rsatched. these nests from the tj-me the
eggs Here laid until the young birds uere gone" fltro of the neste Here
of roblns, one built in an apple tree and the other in the stump fsnce.
I need,ed to step but a pace from the path to put u',y hand upon either of'
them; the other two nests were of the same suaurp sparrov, one with four
and the other with three brown-speckled eggs within. The young srdamp
sparrows, ntren hatched, were no larger than bumblebees and were as
d,estitute of dowr as Jamlets Iip.
footpath, as f call it, ls mrch used by the villagers in golng from
the town to the lake. It goes through the sehoolhouse yard, over &
stuep fence, along the edge of a cornfield, over another fence, through
a big meadow out into en open lane, through a dooryard across the higttlmy, Lnto a cenetery along j-ts gravel paths, over a stile to a grai-nfle1d, dor.m a little run or brooklet, through an iron gate, across a.
lana and orchard, past a sunmer hotel and into the road that skirts
the eastern shore of Lake lamoka.
}r,y
?his footpath is nevor elosed and eould be traced by the worn fence*
crossings if it should ever be deserted anct grass-grolrno The stiles
are kept in repalr, I know not by tthou, but it i-s pleasant to immagine
by the spirits of those departed ones r+ho used to tralk along it, and
who are now laid und.er the grass and floinier-covered mounds iu the
cemetery"
m]-king 1n the footpath, one is souretj.nes hidden by standing
corn, sometimes by taIL grassr but more often by the hedgerows" IIe
may stop and pick rdld fnlt or flowers and nobody will forbid. to be
sure, th-is path has not been here hundreds of years and so become
proof against a Prlncets pouer to close; but it has all the charm of
such. Yesl For me more charn, for here it is winding through hedge'row and Iane, not across printed. pages.
[Jhen
fhis year the country
seems
to be fttll of rrild fruit.
fn
many places
carried by blrds and
fruits usually cultivated
-andprobably
and sometLuies in
hedgeror,rs
boys - taken lodgment lu fence corners
or waJrfarer.
feast
to
the
hunter
offer
a
patches of rnroodland where they
have escaped
79
of no. ?9)'
(second page
fhose fruits, never cultlvated and which birds prefer, are most plentifirlt
the pincherry trees &re red, with snall sour chemles, the Juneberry, the
huckleberry, uild grepe anti choke cherry, the alderber y nor* in blossom,
pokeberry, partridge berry, and othersn too numerous to mention, make up
a biil of fere i,rhich most birds and. boys cannot pass by*
Garden Acquaintance, seems to thiuk that birds have fine
discriiuinating powers and prefer the forej.gn flavor of cult,ivated fru-tts;
but exa.uinations of birdst stourachs seeas to prove tbat the amount of otrltivated frult eaten by then ls small as conrtlareei to the amount of wild
eatenr, and that uhere both the i"rild and eultivated cau be had r^r"ith equal
effort, they r,ril1 take tho wild. I do not need the testimony of a govern*.
ment officer to convinee ne that a boy td.11. I have seen Bob !{h:ite
atqony the huckleberry bushesr. but who ever salil him at the strawberry bed?
The catbird loves the ced.ar thicket but shuns the curuant bushes. A
number of Junebemy trees flourish Eear our house and we have elso some
cherry trees, but Coek }tobin sings mostly in the Juneborry trees"
towe11,
in W
fhe most pleasant tlme to wander along the footpeth is in tlre mornlng when
the deu is on, and bef,'ore the sun has risen too high - then all the perfumes of flowers and gress v111 greet you. fhe breeze may shake a little
dew from the overhanglng llmbs onto you, bnrt what of thatt Deu is good
for ones head and heart, especially for the hearts of those r.rho sleep
long and have athat tired feel*ngt when there i.s work to do.
Wild grapes and cherries put, one ln ri-tnd. of Eden, when he has walked. long
on the dusty road and ean stop under the trees in the shade and pull dolrn
the branches and piek as rmrch as he wishes*
the sun is up, when it ie hot and all nature seelrs to be asleep
s&ve a few birds whieh r+histle in the distant fields, the lake is the
most pleasant place. It is then that I ern apt to go to I'Ieetts grove the place contalning so many chipraunks. This €1rove borders the foot of
the lake and ls a half mile fron a highnay. The lake shore is gravelly
there and trees cone down to the edge of the uater. Tobyhanna enters
the lake to the north and hedges the grove on that side with isillous
and^ alders. fn and out of the ereekrs mouth, fleets of ducks sal1; in
the air above, droves of *mllors paddle the wind; nou and then the
solltudes of the ald.ers are broken by the t}:ud of a frog plunging head-'
long " into a pool; and Lf one is cautious and his neek eontaj:rs mbber
enough, he may see a herron weding alnong the li1y pads'
&lhen
Fleetrs grove used to be much frequented by picniokers, but notr
su$mer hotels farther up the lake and on the road.s, offer inducment too
in their orchardso Those i-nducments consist chiefly
on their lawns andrhop
sod&lt'' $ow or:-ly those uho are a bit rouantie
of well r,later and
md want a taste of pioneer 1lfe so to speek, or rish to catch f5.shr'
put their tents in the grove. the show of canvas through the trees,
i;he perfi:me of tobacco @oke, and the sound of coarse Jestlng uJ.lI always
guide you to their ca,rnp. Notuithstanding the desecration of the grove
by ttre Elen eyer keeping their pipes burning before the altar of the god
Iobelia, the facts theit they dig rrrorms for bait, dririk r+ater from the
(tuirA page of no. ?g)
lake, cook thelr fish over flres built between stones, and leave
thelr tents open ln utter contempt of proulers, make then tolerable.
fhe camper is not so tidy as tl:e pionicker but he ls more silrple;
he ls loss sr:mptuous hnrt more hospitable, The picnicker may never ask
you to eat from hls basket, but the camper always urges you to taste
his broiled fish* You are r*eleome to it, i-t has cost him nottring,
it
r^r:ill cost you nothing but your
squoa.,1i
shness.
0n the shore, hovered over by second-growth plnes and henlocks, i.s a
large plne 1og or fallen tree, fifty feet or nore in length. It has
lain there as long as I have been acquaiated with the place. this
1og used to be a favorlte perch of raj-ne whenever I rsashed to angle
for sunfLsh. Nors I never go to the grove without sltting awhile on
the 1og. The uater has beaten against !t ss long that i-t is uorn
smooth. Ilon it one may raateh the sandplpers teetering along the
beach or see the crows fIy down to make a feast on fish the uaters
heve east up.
the grove and to the south, a great cove'swings around, an
indentation betweea the nrai.n-land and one of the largest islands;
flags and bullrrrshes abound at the edge of the cove: alnong which I
have often lutd rry boat vhen hunting there.. The swanp below the cove
j-s ehoked nitli tangled bushes, faIlen and stnndinSl trees and water
Below
$eeds*
Eleetr's landing - another Eleet oirns the landing - is about eighty
rod,s below the 1og, and the boathouse leening over the nater is quite
poetlc. fhe helr of the landing, called rPattyn by the boys, has
named the place Grove Landi.ng and enforced the name by paintlng lt in
large letters on the boathouse. Cdrove Landlng is most aluays deserted,
but the ducks, turtJes, and uater bi-rds, and the rattle of the anchor
ehains and splash of waves against the boats es they swing at their
mooriagsr. always bid rae tarry awhj.le. I sit Ln the boats and 1et the
wlnd rock me, skip flat stones fron uave to wave, take off nry shoes
ancl rrad.e, and behave nyself generally as if f owned the pIace. No
tt*d and f are frlends and
one evsr molests or nakes me afraid.
he would unlock a boat and 1et s.e row if he were there and I uished to.
place for large black and yeIlow butterfIles,.
Dragonflies are also nurnerou$r Ehe butterfli.es dance around and alight
upon decayed fragments of flsh and frogs; f have often uondered lf
they feed on the&, The fab-Le about dragonflies most vlvld in sry
recollectj-on i.s that they would s€Id up the ears of naughty boys" I'or
that, reason f thought their local name Devilts Darning Needles was
the most appropiate"
Grove Lending
ls e great
Sesterday, f was at Grove tanding. tl-io horses on the shoro stood neck
to neck, the one half asleep gazlng out over the waterp the other
coatemplating the blue hil1s ia the opposite direction. Cettler stood
kaee deep in the uater and chewed. their euds. Tley leave footpriuts
souetimes three-inshes deep in the cley bottom of the shore and in
sprj$g theee holes are appropriated by bullheads, uhieh make resting
places of them.. ?hen bull-heads ar:e said. to be holelng' f have often
caught them by rrading in barefoot and feeling for the holes wltJr mf
feet; then it w€Is easy to reach the hand in and take out the fish,
Eele are sometimes caught in this same !nay-
f have roritten to you in this haphaaerd uay that you might lm.ow
the country as I see lt and not ln eatalogue fash.lon. f do nbt irish
to give you a list of bi.rd.s, beasts or flowers' tlhen wa-lking, ue do
not see things by routine but as they are scattered over the country.
ff I te1l you about one place a good many tirnesp it ls because it is
a favorlte spot antl one is apt to talk mueh about his favorttes'
T d,o not think the vorld has ever lain bofore Be before such a beautiful visior es this sunuer has revealecl. I t+ish f could write to you
uhat f see and feel and hear, but only the cosmon th:ings can be put
dor,rn on papor, alL else is the property onJ.y of him who possess€s thom.
firtry 1900r
and i{an:ilton Malbe love to talk about the heaven that lays about
us in or:r infency, the oae lingerlng at Appledore and the other in
,Arden. f too haye realized sorreth:ing of it th:i.s sumer. I{armon;r is
the orrly condition 1n wtrich nature ls at home. Hith it and in it nen and
tomen e,re alraays children. Ihe happlness of chlldhood is because of
the innoconce of ehildhood' aftrcept ye become &s llttle children, ye
sha1l not enter into the Kingdon*.
towell
have often i*ondered r,rhy we alrmys tt$nk the place He were born the
most beautiful spot on earth, and go back to it after years of
struggle with the world joyfuIly, even though it be ntgged and bare.
t now-ttrink it is because of the impresslons received in eirildhood
when the thought ls pure, and so every impression nad.e on i-b is fair and
clear and lncapable of belng effaced"
I
I go out and tura westward. and follow the rrinding road that runs
past our cloor, a charm comes over lrte and I have no d.esj-re to shake it
off. f am always alone. lf f had a conpanion f night see and heer
morei maybe I would see less for it has boen observea that though
Nature ls lavlsh with her blessi.ngs, she is loth to bestow them on a
&s
erowd.
I realk along the road a Iittle lray, reach the top of a knoIl, and look
back to reallze that I have uissed much and that f uiay travel that far
narly tlmes and not see it all. teaaing on a pair of rickety bars, I
looir lnto a field of half-head.ed oats or half-ripened uheatr, for they
are lying sid"e by slde. I see the vl11age rambling along the hillslde
iraff-iridaen by trees. f knou its street is qu:iet; not the least exoitment is there, and hardly & man, no pounding of tender feet on hard
pavement, no ttrick smokey atmosphere, no carriage wlth groom and footman and. no beggar*
sfi
of no. 80)
f leave the shade of the five-leaved piue in vhich I am standing,
go along the stump fence through a eh:mp of surnachs covered with
vinesl cross a uild field and strlke the footpath near uhere it
comes out into the schoolhouse yard, climb the little rise and
stand at the head of the vlllage street.
(second page
I do now; sha11 I go back home or sha1l I idle ailey an
hour on the benches in froat of the store? Yesterdey f heard a
boy sar ilI am going to help Knonles pick berries tou:,omowlt. I knotr
where lfuaor.rles t berry fleld is on the side of the hiIL above the
village and the pickers ere now there at work. f uilI go up and
see them. talcing t'he road, f climb half a nile of ei;rth set on
edge, by an orehard. and vineyard and reaeh the berryjlfield. Boys
and girls, tuenty or &ore in nu.mber, €!,i'e btrsy. They pick and put
the berrles into the baskets they are sen1, to rnarket in. Girls
alvays pick more than boys. Sach row of bushgs are numbered, the
ntrmber written on a $teke driven iato the ground. at the end" Each
plcker is givea his row by the overseer - Ido. 1 taking the flrst rout
ltro. 2 tbe secoad and so on, $ome of the girls pick from a hundred
to one hundred and forty basket's a day.
tr{hat sha11
the hsze of a romantic atmosphore and of dtstanee lends a charm to
descriptions of the vj-ntage i-n F-:rance and Spain. llow much we owe
to the imuragination! The hills are not blue when ue ste,nd at their
base; il,ry-mantled tor.iers and castJ.es are brut deserted. rtrins whea
once they are approached, yet, stripped of their i-deaIs, both oastle
and h111 in their nakedneEs are beautiful enough. $one reed florid
descriptions with greater aest than I do, nor puts greeter value on
the charms of l$magination; lt ls ln my opinion as real in a my
ae the things whj-ch seem to be more substantial.
in this same Knoulest berry field is materlal for all the shapes
the fancy that an lrving or a lfinter could cast up. ltlo fruit of the
vlne ls *reoter than the fruit of these bushes, no vine more
exhilarating than that made of lts dark-red jutce. Ttre scene over*
Here
looked by the fleld" equals eny o& the Rfuine or ln Andalusia. The
boys and girls o.f Lamska are as bright and as nirthftt-L as the young
Dons and Donas of Castile. f vas pernitted to go over the field at
wtl] and eat as many berrles as I wished. I had not beea t,here long
trhen f caught the spirli oi'the harvesters and took a basket to try
my hancL at the picking; whsn that opperation had begun, lt did not
take me long to scrap€ an acquaintance wi'Lh ttiose I did not know.
f filled basket for each one ne&r, until I had. filled. ten baskets.
the bushes Effe picked over three times rnakJ-ng the work last about
tr,ro ueeks, The pickers receive one antl one half ceats per basket.
dress in their lest-yearts clothing, having on
straw hats with broad brj-ms wh.ieh are tied dorsn ove:" their e&rs,
loag black stockinp; legs drawn on over their r,pists and arus, and
their dresses plrnnrict-up eryosing their striped pettieoats and coutrae
wornout shoe$. took at the pictures of women ln Freneh vineyard
scenes and you will get a fair idea of the appearance oi the ffione
berry tromen.
The wouen and
girls
(tmrA page of no.
80)
?he haling season is at hand. Country peopJ-e have as absurd ideas
of eity people as tirose from the eity do bf theu. The period of uy
youth uas passed ationg these hilLs and ia r.rorking over these fields
bnd I laas called a fairly :good haad" Intervenlng years seems to have
vorked a chaoge in the rrinds of some and they thought I did not sare
to uork at fainlng or that I could not. One rnore risky than the
others ventured to ask me to help him out" I have worked for h:i.:m
pitehing hay nearly two ueeks. He told ne that f did as uell as any
of the country men uho are used to such work and he said to my
father that he uas surprlsed to find I couLd do any kind of fairn work.
Yesl J have been in the rtnew moun hayr nine days and yet if f hadntt
read so much poetry f shorrld not have knor,m it to be so sweetly
scented - another possible freak cf, thel iunaagination. When cattle
eat new hay and we detect it ln the nrllk, we s&y it is ngrassyrr*
Hould someone be kind enougtr to explain nhy Pnew I'{or"rn hayn 1* *o
delightful on a ladyrs fu:ndkerdhlef but yet so detestable i'n the
brrtter?
of the .Tapaneee pheasant? f have seen one and seen
it tr,rice. $omeone not far from here lmported some of these pheasants
and has bred them and sent the young around the souatry to be
turned Ioose. A.1aw has been passed and a penalty attached for kiIling ole during the next five years. The thought is to introduce them
in{o rhis eountry as a game bird* They ui1I be easy game to bag for
they are half-donestic now, and niI1 come to the farrnilnard to fight
Did. you ever hear
the roostors.
the faruer, for whom I uas naktng hayn spoke of one of the
pheasants having been in hls yard and quite close to the house. I
said I had. heard of them but had never seen one but uould love to,
Se soon uent to the baru and on the uay he stopped to listen, then said,
ndld you hear that crowing, that was thttt pheasant,lt. tooking toward
hls buclwheat field. he discovered. hin and pointed hlm out. f uent a
quarter of a m:ile up the lane and came quite close to hiu; he ran
across the lane anf, along a fence and disappeared beh:lnd a kno}l.
T did not frighten hlm.One evening
1\ro days after, f ras anou"J"ng lrith the teem; the pheasant, ca,me and chased
grassh-oppers withtn four rods of ne, and I heud a good opportun:ity to
see hiJe-, I{e is as large as a snal-l hen and is the eolor of our
partridges above and yel1ov beneath. IIis legs are blaek and there ere
sone blick feathers uhere the legs join the bod)r" the neck ls long and
s1fuB like a Gtrinea hents, tho head smalI and redn ears uhite and
dlstlnct. lts vings are green and. it has long tail feathers uhich
drag a foot on the ground uhen it ualks. lhe btrd hesitetes to fly
and will run as long as it feels safe in so doing' }lhen it does fIB
it does not make the boating noi-se that its Snerlcan cousin dses. I
do not kno$ thet it is a drr.lmer, for I have heard no one say' If
you have not seen the bird you can hardly fail to recognire it- uhgn you
i.o, for the pictures of it in Japanese d.ralrings ere quite faithfu.I'
.turgust 1900r
Sld you ev6r see any foxfire? f found. some a few evenings ago;
as I r,rent to the well to get a fresh drink of uater, f noticed a
gleaming along the eoge of a board of the platforu. f stooped
and dreu my hand. over it and Lt gloved with redoubled viqlJ.dness,
qy fingers too being made lunrlnous and nhj,ch lumlnosity dici not
easily come off" I called my bnother r,rho had never seen foxftre
and he split off a piece of it and camied lt to the light vhere
nothing but r*et half-rotted pine r.rood r*ae apparent.-
I remenber the first fodire f ever saw, ft was when I lras
a snall boy. $y father then kept a cov whlch ln eonmon with other
villege cows ln those days pastured the roads.. 1,S brother and f
r*ould have to start out at five otclock in the afternooo to find them,
for they often uandered far atray. One nlght ue tr6re unable to get
track of them and f hunted a J-ong t{tre. $lhen near to nlne orclocir, I
went to a large traet of dark rnrood r.rh:ich they sometimes uandered into.
Going a long dlstance into the forest along an old uoodroad, f could
not hear them and started to come back r.rhen ry attention tras arcested
by a pale-h1ue rysterious light not far from the path. It &id not
flicker like a flame but lms qrrlet. Ihere was &n agitati.on at the
roots of &y hair and co1d. naves chased one auother d.or,rn rqr spine" As
soon &s f could recover qyself T thought tlspunktt, tfor.fl-reB, having
often heard of j.t. Ttre temperature of my backbone beceme less ffigid
and ny hair lost its brlstle-Li-ke stiffness, and f uent tolrard it" &t
the foot' of a large maple tree f found a great quantity of hard, dry,
uorm-eaten rnrsbrooms shining so brightly that f could have read a
newspaper lf i.t were held near them, f strlpped off a long piece of
bark wlth a number of the raushrooms adhertrug and camiod it home and
put *ht... la e demp and. shady place antl kept lt there threo or four
d.ays, fts Ir:ninosity gradually faded, to die out altogetber, finally.
$lnee then, T have seen foxfire in the woods several times but never
trfe]-l do
r*ith apprehension.
For a reek past, there has been another and a more potent fire burning
and making a frylng pan of this neek-of-1and. For six days have I
been et work in harvest and have fertalized the ground uith a large
contribution of sweat. Irlot, a cloud has sbadoised the sun or drop of
dew e&rkled on the $eeds during the ti.me' Iesterday a change came
over the scenes clouds hung Iow ai1 eround and fine ralndrops descended, and today earth is as fresh, birds are q.s happy, and flouers as
&rigUt &s ever.
Sol
is not only a suceessful cook but an accomplished alchenlst.
Base materlal has been turned to gold at a greater ratio than L6 to 1
aud ha,s been fashloned lnto miniature suns and glued to the ta1l stens
of sunflower, eleeampane* and ruu!-lein. lbe heated term has developed
thtngs wonrlerfirlly; and. Beptenber (the yelIow month) has begun uith
the second week of Augtrst -- for thi.s is a vertible Septenber and only
August 14"th. The srin shlnes but lt ls not trot; the tdnd blows and a
gentle roaring is heard in the tree tops; quiet reigns notwlthstanding
the r^rind and lts roaring.
s1
{second page
of no. 81i
I sat reading Hamilton Fialriets Under lbees and Elser+here, my nother
came into the cool room and said it w&s so qulet outdoorsr that she
imagined. she heard. the words nlfirsh -. ]fushIs whiepered. And I think
she did hear those words. So d.oes everyono at times and if they
*brelto hush aad to hark, they vould hear llthe music of the spherestt,
ttthe morni-ng5 stars singt and the heart of nature beat. It is as
easy to hear" eelestlal nusic as to hear terresti-aI, lf the ear is in
tune. It 1s as easy to see purple clouds as to see lead-colored ones,
if the eye ls fine enough. The next, time yoll go to the gaJ-lery, ask
Mj.ss Maloy to te11 you about the artist shoraing her how to see purp16
As
cloudE.
today u&s a foreeest of the ill{elaneholy Dayslt, and I sent out to enjoy
it. f sat awhile on the horse block, then turned westwerd. and went
down the road a nays, then cli&bed" a fence srnothered-Ln-bushes, having
a ralI break beneath me because Dowry Hoodpecker had drillod a hole
in it that Shlp lfunk rrright have a houe in its rotten heart. I went
dor,ra the bank by the cowpath under overhanging nild-apple li.utbs
loaded r"rith fruit to tobyhanna r,rl:-lch I crossed, stepping from stone
to stone, to Eeeeh HLat where poles for uood are piled standing on bsd
rraking mook wignans among the trees. Across Sonth Creek is a gtrove
of e1ms and hlekories. Caong these f sat doum on a bank and vaited.
I did not raait long before f heard a thr.rmp betr-ind me, and s1yly turning, sa1ll L red squirrel on the low strernp-and-rail feuce' tlhen he
eoughed and straightened himself out
saw n* he gave his tail a flirt,
on a rall to study and. to scold me. f was within two rods of hjm
and could. see his eyes spe,rkle and his sides beat as he breathed and'
ehattered. ER-r-r-r-H went somethiag ln front of me, aud a red-headed
$oodpeeker drr.:rruned at the end of a dead eIm limb. A robin flew clown
not }ar from me, then another end another until there were five two o1d and three young onos+ Hov they chased grasshoppers end a whlte
noth and nelrer mlnded me. fn a wild-cherry tree at my left, a croll
alighted and was foI-loued by others r:ntil half a dozen were there"
They cawed singly and ln palrs and by threes; stretehing their necks
an& opeuing their mouths, they nad.e a great effort and proeueed a
greot racket. At my right wa6 a clump of fifJty or more suma,chs and
wUif* f sat there fuJ.ly a dozea do-r,nry-woodpeckers cj-rcled thelr boles.
His (haff brother) heuiry-uoodpecker ascended and descended the e1msr,
and a red had already d.one hie drtmnlng. I never s&w so mnny woodpeckers together bet'ore. 0n1y one patr did I see fightlng and that
llas U-ke the fighting of some boysr aE words and no blous. Creepers
played at the foot of the hickories and cailbirds mewed in the alderberry bushes over the ereek bed."
ls something about sitting ia a place like that, tliat has an
ind,escribable chama to it - a eharm not to be analyzed but to be enioy*
ed. Io have ones llllttIe brothers of the airlt and trees and ground
play about hfui, he needs but to be quiet.. f believe if ue could get
Lff- tfre hate out of our hearts we eould ualk about a$ong them and still
they uouLd not be afraid. John l,luir loved the Doug&as Squirrel so
nucL thelt lt ruor:ld Jr:mp from his cabin roof to his head and pass undcr
hls arm and, sit upon the book he r.ras readlng. Thoreau tells ln The
Heek about his taking fishes out of the water in his hand, and this
very day I r,rent to a spring in a field nearby to get a drir:k and found
a large- Etreen frog there. I put my hand in the r*ater and stroked him
and h; did not hop euay but winked and turned over and stretchsd out
l:-is legs as if he eajoyed. it.
There
19O0r
ttBrlght sunny day will soon fade &uaytt' nras the roystererts soug, and
there is as nnrch truth as poetry in it" The sun has not only faded auay,
but it is cold and rain comes dom in a drizzle all day Iong. The corn
leaves raith rElthered ends hang 1lke wet rays from the stalks; there is
hardly a fluttering loaf on the apple trees but ril1s run dotrn ihe trunks
and from the llmbs; a few birds peep sleeplly in the beech sl:rubs over
the way; so&e crows oau somewhore in the fields out of slght; a bedraggled hen fliee ecross the ya.rd from the burdoeks undenreath trhich her nest
is hidden; a few clothes hang 1i-np from the line where some careless wife
has lef,t them; a farmer stops uith a barefoot horse bofore the blacksnith
shop; some boys l*ith wilted h.at brlms and runover shoes eit under the
August 20,
8e
grocery avningl and a hrurdred other such sights characterlze the day.
The
spirit in
nan which uays
tit is
enough for the gre$s
song and taksn up
the skies to be bluen has harkened its
to be green and
the trurd.ent
oFbrever-tfeverl Never-Forevcrlp and dings lt into ones e&r incessontly.
lrle have hidden from the nn and prayed for rain anct aow that the clouds
have gathered we ra:ise our umbre1la, turn up our co}1ar, and proceed to
deqrond.
Are there no genii of cloud and. raln and lot+-toned atrnosphere to eheer us
end draw us from the fireslde to the fields? Ihe replenished brooklet
says ltyesr. The naost moaths on the hillside say ltssq* and see*n I'ry
inclination $eys trgolr.
I took a market basket and shears and told my mother I vas going to get
elderberries, for a few ere nor.l rlpe. things are hardly what they appeer
nhen eeen from a distance, so looking from a parlor window touard hedgerows and fallow fields through a drizzle is not, esleulated to give one a
favorable ir*pressiorr of themr Xet these are just the places where alderberrles grow. I got tnSr baskot fuIL of berries and my spirit raised a
notch; f also learned that what, many people thlnk to be the drowsy
complaini.ng of birds is nothing leos than the little }:ve pats and chippers
that blgger folks sometimes indi:Ige in r+hen they are safe and warm and
happy at, bome, I saw a good nargr other things that tend^ to dlspell the
ilLuslon tkuit happlness is to be deternlned by the amor.mt of noise
attend:ing, that all birds and an-1rui1s do not publish their joys with
shouts. Perhaps the noisy ones constitute a sort of Free Hethodist,
fraternity anld the blrd congregation,
A boy and tr+o girls, nith rods end bait box going toward the lake, had to
endure the derlsion of llalcyon as he fleu from a secure place on a
hem.lock knot and shook h:is rattle over the creek. 3o him they soemed
iuch queer fishermen, rigged out in waterproofs and rubber boots. ff
their hooks trere uade of silver, they nng'ht get soue fish, lf of steel
or hora, he d.oubted it. I{y feet were uet going through the grass2 but a
rabbit jr:nped fron a thicket end stopped to look at ne long eaoqh so he
uulght heve saidc mllhat of that; lt wonrt hurt you; rn*tne have been uet a
hundred ti-nes, and tr am eI1 rlght.a This makes me remember that I'torrls
Thompson in Bye tlays and Bird Notes says that he has traarped the Hoods
for twenty years and has never yet seen a blrd or animal which seomed to
have died a natural death - th*y always had evidence of"ri&lence upon
them, or else had drowned, starved, or froaen.
September
1900
(Letters to Geo. H. Bomll)
and get a d.rink. Take the rusty tin cup from
the bush uhere the farmer has hung it and satisfy ourselves' I lmow
r+here the spring ls. I learned. lts loeatlon before I r,ias big enough
to dig or pitch; Eany a time sj.nce, uhen the sun beat doi*n its sueltering h-at, have I dropped the fork or scybhe and sought its brin. fbe
spring l-s a quarter of a nile from the road back of the house. ltre
watler,rbreaks out of the bank and. runs dor.rn to the flat -'Bcech ELat *14 makes a narsbgr p1ace. Cattails grou there and taIL swaop grasses
rd.th sgr teeth on its edge. tround the spring the groqnd is not
cultivated", &lderberry bushes flor:rlsh and overhan$ lt' At its very
edge, touch-me-nots rcith lenon blossoms and gfeen pods stand and
drint. I never go there for uater but that a feu pods are ready to be
touched. that they nay scatter thelr seeds and transform themselves into
Letus go to the spring
delicate ringlets.
do not aluays use the cup but sometimes Iie at fir1l-J-ength and drink
from the spring itself. It is in thet l1ay one gets the freshest
draught. IIe looks in the clear depths and sees all that is going on
thert - a 1lttle vorld by itselft. one which I have not the abillty to
portra;rr. but wtrich you may witness for yourself and so obtain your
howlerlge of it flrst hand.
f
Half a dozen sugar naples and as marqr beeches (those that the kno1*ing ones caIL painted beech) spread their great crooked sinet6r a:ms
ne;f the springo and lf you r.rish to 1ie on your back r:nder then and
look at tUi clouas and slry through their branches, it !1111 be pLaasantl
then when you have done so;, go back to the spring and get another
drinlcr. an{ at lts botton see the same sky and clouds s}rlning and the
sa.ne 6ruaches vaving. Ttrere you nay see the queer spectacle of tuaterbugs ridlng on clouds, end green frogs blinking from the sky.
Just belou the spring is a box sunk into the ground, and the little
stream florring fon the basln empties into the box and uaits a whj'Le
before going onuard to the flat to wash the feet of the flIags" The
box is noss-covered, and the farsrerts boy, Bi11y, te1ls me he prrts
fish in it every surnmer, and that aou some are there but are hj-dden in
the grass growing at the bottom.
Ten paces below the sprlng at the end of the box, _ru$.s a squirrelrs
highrmy in the shape of a crooked-rail fenee. Todayr $eptember {th,
afier bfffy had lelt me, I sa'i; on the fence in the shade of one of
the maples. the tree, two yards in front of me1 had large linbs
.-etght ieet from the ground spreading out in. aI[ directions, one of
vhlch came within a ioot of me and on a level with rqy efeso As I sat
there, naking a note in uy book, I heard a_rustling and scratching
to my Ieft, ina there cam-e a large squirrel along the second traiL'
Ue aia not hesitate r:ntil he uas near enough so that f might have
touched hin had I put out ny. hand., He stopped and looked et me ln
perfect astonislurent, then ran back to the end of the rail but
irnrediately returnea, tfrrew hi-mseIf upon his haunches and glardd at
me, all thl tfure shaking his heal.Sr plune-Like tajl" and' gesturi-ng
wiin frfs forepaws. f dld not move. He soon ran back for:r or fLve
rallsr length, where he sat and scolded. for f\rl}y three ninutes. Then
js3
(second pege
of no.
8J)
he came forward again ano frcm the end of the panel on whieh f sat,
$.umped into the tree, rnrhere for an lncred.ible length of time he capered
about, running around and up and dowa the trunk and out on the limbs
so close to me that several times f though'b he intended. to jump onto
my head. ,After thus satj-sfying his curlosiiy or dispelllng his fear,
having dlsplayed to me all the beauties of hls silver-tipped tai1,
lithe body, and sparkling eyes, he leaped to a sapling to my right,
and ran on d.or.rn the fenee. I r*atched hjm uniil he vent about ten rods,
when he came back, passed again to the tree by the llmb he had left it,
and ran do'*':r the trunk to the ground and disappeared. I saw hi-m no
morer. but if I a,m i&Le tomorror+ r,l'iJ.l come agai.n and. see if he too wj-ll
be there. September 21st - ido, he dld not come although I have been
there several times gi-nee.
There are a great rnany of these sprlngs in this seetion and they are
all interesiing. All break out of some bushy or roelgr bank and flot*
dorn giving drink to nr,:merous creatures both brute and hus.an"
$prings nearly aluays mark the first settled spots in the urilderness
for there is hardly a one bnrt thet near it you may find indications
of a habitation ln the pasti. an o1d celar ho11oiu, fruit treee, 1114c
bushes or perhatrls a tansey bed. They are nearly always away from the
highway and the settlerst children have deserted theun and dug for
themselves wells along the maj.n road, so the spri-ng is left in the
native wildness i.:*. r,rhich granelfat'her found i,t and nbullt his cottago
nearHi
slrings are the noneonform:ists of the landscapee taking no notice
of conventionalities and are sought by alJ. ei-lrple foIks, r4yse1f, boyst
birds, and squirrels. They often renlnd me of certain charaeters &et
in society frc,m uhich we may as surely drar+ purlty and truth' tlhen
the sprlngs have dried up, the cormtry r.r111 have Lost such of its charua.
The
Iou have doubtless noticed ln your travels that many streams do not
seen to be nearly as large as they once trere, f ot there are roride creekbeds and very naffow channels of Hater. Neither have you failed to
observe the wooded crests of the hil l sr, sh:i1e the h-illsides and the
valleys were nearly destitute of trees. lle sometimes hear people
says ltT cau put tuo and tuo togethern'l But hov many farmers seeu to
be unable to do so, for lfe See ihen staging es resistless a warfare
against treee as did thoLr fathers, and then they 3-anent that there is
no uater in their pasture flelds, that their horse troughs are dryl
no rain falls on thelr meadotrs i-n summer and no snow colrers their wheat
ln winter.
a quarter of a rrlle from rny fatherr's house is an lllustratj-on of
rapidly the forests worild reappear if the grourd were let aloRe a
feir years. 0n the spot to r,Eh:ieh f refer, sixteen yeers ago stood a
glant sycamore tree; it was three feet through at the bnrtt and a hundred
feet hlgh. It was the only tree of its kiad near' One spring day the
creek arose and undermined the tree, nou its great roots are turned
up to the sun and wind. - its toes turned up as it lllot'€ - and i.ts huge
body at fu}1 length upon the ground. where ii is rotting and become a
bumor,ring place for squlrrels and weaselffi. T&ough the tree fe1l in
I,lo'b
how
such en ignoble &anner, its seeds were given to the brook irhlch
planted. thern on a fertj-Ie plat nearby. On noi more tiran a tkird of an
acre, today, T counted thirty-five trees whieh averaged one-foot nlne*'
inches through, one foot from the ground. I clinbed ono tree and
for:nd ii to be fifty-five foet hlgh. .411 tltis growth is the result of
lettlng nature have its way less than si>rbeen yeers. (isotel a-1so soe
Qi.d tees Near ?3rcone * note 27 - Park and Shore }lotes - 9-2y1.893 and
Trees and the Sycamore T?ee - notes 15 and 16 - Lamoka Va}ley - Lgi1{.}
Sycamore is hard wood, nakS.ng splendid fuel, and it ean be use{ for
nlarly ev6ry purpose that beeeh and maple can be used. ft is a beauti-'
ful tree, having a wealth of large leaves uhieh hang to the branches
long and it eertainly must be a valuable moisture-retaining tree. fn
this cli-rnate the sycarlore seems to be the last tree to put forth its
leaves i-a the spring, and to cast i:hen in the fa1l unless ue may
except the honey locust wir-ich ls an unusually late tree to put forth
foliage - I h:ow some oaks retain leaves aIL lrinter. Trqr man who
loves a uilltary bearlng cannot help but admj.ro the sycarnore for i-t'
is so clean and. stralght, and it's r'rhit'e trunk and hernging berIls ca*not fail to aitract attention.
Ilamnondsport,
HkI"r Oct. 14,
1900;
You have boen on Lake Keukat Hou'do I knoW? T have heard you saf s0
I think. You remeruber that the lakeside cor:ntry is covered with
grapevinest Concord.s, Delanares, ldiagaras, Catawbas. fhe first three
varieties are ripe aud picked., and Catawbas are now ready. I came to
Hamondsport two weeks ago and f am vorking in a large grapo-packlng
house. Iff work has beea at unioading and storlng eway the trays filled
ulth the f11it as the grouers unload them from their lxagonsr He have
unloaded as high as sixty-five pousdofegnilpes ln a single day. The
trays hold about thlrty-five pounds each of grapes, and are fl1led
in tUe vine;rard" The gfapes are storeei ar,my ln these sane trays and
kept so untjJ they are paeked in baskets and shipped. to market or are
sold for rnrine making, Thts year Concords and other co$molL verleties
brlng tuenty dollari a ton if first quality, while Catawbas, DeLawares
and fancy varieties bring th:iri;y dollars.
at ihe pakking bouse ls hard and poor}y paid for, but I have
nL particular fault to find nith that, for I do not e:qpect to be here
J.ong. l,fy object 1n coming r+as thet I nighi; see something more of the
vinl tnan I Lould around f|trone. I love to see the profusion and to
realize that poverty is a needless cond.ition, for the Creator made
enough for aIL, and all would be provided for cor:Ld they but be
,brou[ht irhere it is. GrapeS r^rilI nOt 8ro]r on s+'orle pavements, nor in
back al]eys, so e. loag as people urtll persist in flocking to t;be
eities they need not eryeet, to ea* grapes.
grapes f can eat. They are free to ne. Qne great
f have all the-Oeen
if::orded, nei tha-b is going lnto the vineyards to
pleasure has
nhich Ls considered a fai.r dayr s trork
pi"t.,
-h"r" I can pick thirty boxesbeautiful
the grapes look as they hang
o* these hi*llsides. Hou
on the vines or lie fresh-picked in the trays. I{ow sseet and hon
fragrantt All this r.realth produeed from land wh:ich before vines were'
put on l-t r,las not worth tuenty-five cents ar scre'
I'{y r,+ork
84i.
f work eomn,and a fine vj-eu of the lake and
the valley at its head. Fleasant VaILey it is called' hlhile the
scene is not nefir as beautiful as that overlooking take Lamoka,
it ls iadeod calcr:-lated to fill- the beholder uith rapture'
The vineyat'ds $ihero
lake floats a ma11 fleet of steamers uhich are ongaged in the
grapo-carryl-ng business; and to bo on the doeks at uight when they
come in loaded to their fu]1 capacity t+ith firrlt, and see tire nen
hustle it frorn the decks to the cars on the si&i.ngr. is really inter-.
esting. Hany vineyard men have yachts and do their or'rn boatlng",
The
for urhom I workecl ls a brryer and shipper as welJ. as a
eultivator of grapos. He has at the present moment in hiS store*
houses and piled in tris yaTd more than flve-ltundred tons of grapos.
I sha1l not stay here longer than the present moath, for the work is
too hard for ue and forbids rny enJoying the situation as f desire,
I expected my work woqld. bo more arlong the vines, but lt has tr,rned
out otherwise and is not paying me to spend my tine at i.t. i{ext'
year, if I a31 in these parts, I urill hire to some eultivator to
t1:e nan
pl.ck only.
I bell*ve lt is my duiy and privllege to get all the eajopuent out
of life that I can and yet have that enjolment, honorablo and selfearned.. There are sorte kind.s of i"rork that gives very little
pleesure or profit and plling grape boxes in e dark storehouse is
CIne kind" J have also learued that profit is no profit if it is too
dflar1y obtained, that money cennot gi-ve enjoymen'b bnrt ue.y be e
great source of uneasiaess both by possessLon and lack. thore are
meay thlngs that are better than gold" firis past surnmer, life has
been good and et the same tlne I possess more gold than I usually
db et this time of the year.
October 28th and later:
ln grone, hrt not, in i&loness. To enjoy 1lfe does not
lmply that one must be irlle any more than lt does that one must be
rich, I have worked at the carpenterrs trade bofore, and f oen do
so again, and a.n doing it* tJtren you become acquainted uith Htrltmanr s
writing, you will learn hou he loved coumon people and sought t,o
nlng1e with them *for by so doing he could sy:npathize wlth theu and
t&ey with htn :[,u mutualr" beneficlal felloustr-lp, f believe he hold the
true secret of a suecessful 1ife, aad feel that r+hen f was in Buffalo
f made myself too exelusive and uas too much inf,luenced by those
felr surrounding mo. Ilere I ean do as ffhitnan did, essocia'Le r"rlth
men of simple me,nners even if they are not refined, a.1so lri'Lh birds
Ilone agaia
thet are purer trees tirat are strong, ano flor,rers that are beautififl"
I ean llve on the fat, of tho land, the product of labor that is
not toll but pleasure.
Ilere
s5
(secoad page
of no.
85)
get many opportun:ities to go lnto the orehards when the
apples are ri"pe? ft seerns that you r:ight..occasiona"lly r+hen you are
Staylng over Sunday in the sinall iowris. resterday i'i rained, cold
and wet, yet I r,rent into a large orchard nearby and forgot e}t about
inclement r,reather uhile there. Ihe gpound lras covered witih apples
the r^rind had shaken off, and under many trees large piles of fruLt
reposed, having been picked ready for barrellngrwhile sose of tho
trees r.rere yet Iaden. Shouers of rain were sheken frou the ljmbs
by every breeze. The ground was uet, $o Here my feet, but troodpeckers
scoured the trur:ks of the trpes' as merrily as they nlght had the sun
shone" Other orchard birds of autr:rnn were plentiful, Tou know that
the orchard. is the playground as r,relL as the pasture field of many
a bird ana smaIl anj-ual. through the fog and drizzle the lonesorne
crou ca11ed, perched on some chestnut, trees by the fence, anil shed
the rain from h:ts feaihersr:as eifectually as he seems to in the cold
r,ri:rterrs sutl. The cron is alr+ays with us and i an glad of i-t, for
he seems to be a bird. who is at home wberever he is urimolosted ln the orchard, the forest, by the lakeside as well as ln the cornDo you
fi.e1d.
flre fragrance eom:i-ng from thai orcbard aad. apple heaps, r*ras worth j.s
a half-mile in the raia to enjoy. ft is a fragrance that
not forgotten with the leaves, or blovn ar,my with them; but is
transferred to the cellar and storehouse; and, at this ruoment nF
fathert'il barn is as fragrani as a garden because trays of red apples
are stored. there. Soon when Januaryt s snor* and r,rind make li"inter nu.t
of doors, f nay sit by a snapping wood-flre r*ith a pitcher of cider'
and a pan of, apples to acaomp&ny rqy readlngs of },s study $'ire or
wa-1king
Leaves
of
Grass.
A fer.r things rnrere omltted. from the hut at l,Ia-lden trhieh would have
made its olmer nore neighborly, more eompanionablo, more of a country&an; and among tbose things, trere apples and cider"
that thoreau w&E no'l; much of an advocate
of trees, Not very close\y associated wlth them, exeept when he
contemplated. the insects on t eir bark' lihile he desisted from
dest"rolrlng thera, he never sought 6o cultlvate them. He ro.ight have
You have doubtLess noti-eed
blessee smal1 boys and rabbi.ts, had he set a few sweet apple treee
along the edge of hls bean fieId.; and at the sa.me tJ-me he was hlomx
to you andlb and others as the man who tknev beaasn, be should be
knoln to theun as the man who planted the trees. Itrad €vory creature
been Es sparing tn its plantiag as he uas, he nev'er eoul6 have
+rritten so beau"bifully about ui1c1 apples,
suppose it is easier for
big men to do great acts.
I
little
men
to find fauIt, then l-u is fcr
86
Ilovomber 1900t.
November, clays rrith two edgesl
Frosty mo:'n1ngs and evenings;
the epples are heaped ln tlre orchards;
The corn stand.s in shocks or lies tmid' stubble"
Halcyon days of withh hazle and bittersr"r.eet;
The one in bloom - the other in berryl
Tho one fringes the road.sides l,rith yelIow;
fhe other rrrns leafless and tr,risted oter fences.
.0,eh trees, chestnut trees, hickory trees naked;
I'{llkweeds sending i.ringed seeds s$ruard;
Days
of
repainting their foliage r'rlth enerald;,
lIild grapos and thornapples tempttng childrea.
Eeanties arountl me, above me, within me;
(First Days of
A d.ozen, a scor*, too many to mentlono
ffemo.locks
In these days, tirese first days of $ovember
ldovember
ln Poens)
out in tho woods roads and the paths along hedgeror,rs;
fal1en leaves are a foot-deep in plaees. f tramp through then and kick
them before me until they fall j-n shot+ers about :ny knees. These Leaves,
auake no feefi.ng of regret or melaneholy r^ri-thin me for they d.o not speak
of doathl not death but of uaturity - they have performed their office
the
of breathing organs to the trees, gathering from the atmosphere r,rhat
place
given
now
and.
have
need,
not
it
does
what
tree needs, and exhalLng
to the bud of' the future. Having ornamented the top of the tree, they
now fertalize ii;e roots, hexb year to reappear in the new ring th.e tree
rui1l have added in lts growbh.
'Lhe
What a proftrsion of leaves there aret Ttrey are heaped together in
feace comers, entangled in brus]: piles, spread in lrct borders- along
the brooks, wlrere uingled nith sticks and stones they often make a dam
ana turn tLe water frora a straight cor:rs€. Even knotholes and birds'r
nests are fil]ed irith them, and the spring at Beeeh 3'1at has to be
cleared of them whenever I go there to drink, Yet one-half of the trees
have not released their foliage, for oak, willow, locust, syca.more,
beech, ironr,;ood and most shrubs and bushes stllI give eolor to the hi1ls.
One syeanore leaf that f measured not long ago was seventeen inches
hroadl by sixteen*lnches loug, and that not a specinen soWht out for
m**suringr.ht one uhich 1ay ln my path as T returned frorn work. f have
found. bassuood leaves uearly as Iarge, and maple leaves of eaormpus
I
harre walked
proportions..
,
The rrilkraeed has matured and its bnrsted pods put forth great quant'ities
of nllte wool. Eaeh pod is like a great karnel of popped corrr whose
shuck i-s not half Large enough to contain its white heart.. The triaged
seeds of tlis plant ls camied on every breezx, and teasles, burdoek,
and catnip groi-ring noar have caught and held them until they too look
as if they lrere nembers of the feuiJy. the ra:ilkweeds have delighted
me all su.umer loug, beginning as tirey did early in June to unfold their
purple and yeIlow Llossons, thelr beauty hhs not coased, nor does lt now,
tf,ut its r.rhite messages are sent sailing over the cowrtryside- Not
rrilling to be outdone in its nlsslon of joy-giving, the raild rose biushes
hold up a wealth of scarlet polished fruit in the place lrhere not long
ego a profusion of pink disks rejoiced., I am even now tempted to do as
of no. 86)
children <1o, that is, gather these rose appl-es and string them for
beads to hang about their oecks" I Love ihese rrLld bt"Lds of autuun
(second page
as ffiich as
utility.
I
do the blossoms
oI
s1ffit6r, and perhaps they have as
mtreh
J.. G- Holland understood Yankee nature or he never would have thought
to call kis fiae poem Bitter Sweet. ft r^ras the neme that attraeted
me and I lrave read the poem a nulrber of tj.:nes. Hou necessary it is
that a good thing be well-named. Just imegine tillian I'{ordica being
a&]]ed Jane fuith, and you and f giving two dollars to go into the
gallery to hear i4iss fulth singS f have for a long time been j.n love
rrith the vine ea-lled bittersweot; lts scarlet berries meke such a
sontrast rrith the deed leaves, or dry weed.s around. Some of our
roadside fenees are literal-ly covered. with it, even young irees,
gro1rlflg near seem to bear its frult on thelr every li.mb. Oftentimes
lahen its supports are hal1'-1ost i.n snourdrlfts it may be seen as
bright and beautiful as when the lesves fir-st began to fa-11. If
bit{ersweet berries aro picked before the frost strikes them, and
the bunehes taken into the house, they niIl dry retaining their cclor
and shape perfectly- f have seen them after having been kep a year
and they hrere as beautiful &s 6Y€r.
!lhJ-[e bitterswee&, cattaiJ, tuilkweed, snowdrop are in their gloryr,
we have to be content uiih them stand:ing mute 1n fields or t'horougb-'
fa,res as volcol-oss --for there is hardly a blrd to be heard" tttough
nou and. then a chlckad.ee or woodpecker is seen or & crou flaps
J:azLl-y over, the songsters have departed. Perhaps a ma^n iaith 9ri1y
birds ia hls head could find soIIIB" Yet one who sees only the beauty
that is most apparent thrust upon hlm, as it r,rere, ls not surfeited.
wi.th soug.
blrds ere scarco, bird.d neste are not. A few days ago rhile
to Altafl, I noticed a good many neut's and it
to
ure
to
coi.rnt thom. I hafr just a rLle and a half to go yeto
occumeO
in trees and shruhs by the roadside as f ualked
only
looked
I
and
along and the n'r:mber seen uas thirty*f,our"
HbALe
gotng fron TSrroae
A score of geese on untaned r*ing,
To southl*ard honking go;
.&" shower of rai-n, olc Boreaet breathr
Transforms it all to snov,
Bhe eueral.J grass, the yeIIow 3-eavesl
$]nrobe ths fields at night;
(P:rcsto Change - or
The moralns comes - UeUolA the change!
Days of Nov. in Poems)
tatter
lrhitel
are
all
Their vestments
Tt has snowed about three inches. The storm lasted a pa:'t of the
aight, and nearly all nexb day. I stayed in the house and let it
sn6w" The weather uels d.:isagreeable. It uas a treat, to me to be
able to sit by the firee:!.d.e and be in nobodyt $ llaf,r I kneu that there
1rould, soon be opportunities to go out '*hen the snow bad come to stay whea ninber had ieally set in - so f dld not vex ny sould by forelng
mysolf out.
(tUira
page
of no.
86)
Ttris is the first sno',, He have had in the valley this season,
but not the first snow seen, for -uhe nobb to the southeast of us
called Ftne I'urob, has been wh:iie a week - snollcepped mountains, one
m:igirt say, nov more than foru. miles off. Iet they are not mountains, but only higl: tr-t11s having sueh an eq)osure fhat the least
snolrfall mantles therr ln uhite aad the cold sun oI the latter
lrTovem-Oer days d.oes not melt it before the snow falls on the loi;lands. Tyrone valley and its surroundings are ind.eed at times
picturesquei. above - the covered h111s, lower- the hazy-blue h111iides, stil1 lower - the green val-ley, and beloll a1Ll.,.thecclear lale.
the day after the snor-r'storu, f rras out and found the erovs very activen
f:tyjns in flocks along the slopes. Here they m:tgratlng birds
T should. have thought them preparing for their flight to their lrinter
home. ,sls f watch i;hem and listen to their eal1s sent back holIowvoiced from the forests, li made ue desire to go and read again the
story of gl-d Silverspot, bu'L f uas no'i; fortirnate enough in ntr collecting to get bhe magazine eontaining it. Neii;hor d.o I possess the book
U.ifa gninals I haie Knolpn. (t{ote: Purchased aftertrards for Trving)
tf.ry has been spoken of as the month of moods. $lovember is as mlch so.
HhiLe the moods of l,tay brlng hope, those of Novenber bring apprehension, for one hints of summer and the other shout,s of r,iinter. A
few days ago snou covered the ground, and" frost fll1ed the air, h"tt
today is as pleasant &s one could r.l-ish, snow gone, morning balmy.
klith tire ehange of atmospfore, there eomes a change of spirits. the
cror^rs f1y trigher, the cocks crow louder, the cows make more music in
their lor'ri.ng, and the streams run raith ggeater gIee. ]l{on are betternatured.
time had come for me to go to a friendts farm on the hi1ls
forlr lutles aw&y. I started early and talked l^Iith farn:hands along
the way, and stopped in one village to talk r+ith the oldest inhabitant r+hile he told ne hot'the seasons in the thirties and forties
rrere. When within a m:iIe of $y destination, I leaped the fence and
d, good
went across the flelds, through a pi.ece of uoods and up a lane to the
barn. ldhen r,ritlr-ln five-mj.nutesr walk of the buildlngs, a healry uind'
and raln shower struek me, and I made tbe d.istance in about two m:inutes.
llhen tho shower had passed, f sought 'i;he house and stood and dried
ray cloi;l:-ing by the kitchen flre.
four orelock the rcind. was blorring fiercely but f set out for home.
Cn my lAra.3r I went through a piece of woods whlch had evid.ently been
a crbwst rendezuous, for in the top of taIL second-groubh oaks, I
counted eighteen croust nestsl and. that on &nly about an acre of
grolrnd. Beyond. the r^rood, I crossed a large stubble fi"eld. With pti1lIog *y rubbLrs from the soi-L frequently, I gaLned the opposite side
.r.d. i*s about to cljmb the fenee into a lane r,rhen a gust took rny hat.
ft rolIed. on its edge nor stopped until caught by the fence by the for
woodsicle ruhence I came. I suppose a aan is not altrays responsi-ble
the thoughts that triI.l arise r,rithin hi:ri, so long as he refrains from
givlng oxpression to them in words, i.s he?
S,t
{f,*tters to (ieo. H. l3o:ra}} }
December ls a soc't of p$rch for the neu yoar. In it we shake off the
dust and. dead leaves of the moni,hs gone by, and reaeh forreard to shake
hands witli fresh prospects. In it the farmer brings the yearts_businese
to an end., rearly to start afresh" If he has not been successfuL this
year, he i:opes to be next,. He turns his horses into the farqyard, trrpts
iUu i*rn implinents away under the shed, sells hi-s grainr Pef,s up his
debts, and repudj"ates eere generally. In this he only follous a law
of l{aiure in ttris climate for the sqrrirzel ls stowing away hls nuts and
corni the wild duck and goose uakes lts toilet and departs for_a netr
homei the trees cast their tardy leavesl the sun shines out reluctantly
thea r,rithdrarnrs behind cloud"s; the rain showers yield up the seepter to
Feeember 1900
snowstorm god.s; and a hi:ndred other blessings of the o1d year disappear
to eome again only when spring returns. fhis breaking up of &hings
annual does not cbme rrith a rush brut as an entering wedge, and alnost
before ue are aware of it, the o1d or ma'Lure is cast off as surely as
as &&nJr
the bud easts o,ff the 1eaf. Wiro r,rial say tha'b there are not'
j:r
bud of
the
are
sweet, probabilities ln the bud of the yea.rr as there
the treel
the foregoing was written when ihe man r..ms sitting in a chair ind'oer$.
The flo**ers on t[e carpet aad wal1 decoration, tho blaze of the leup
and * glowing fire rnaking a mock suiluer of the p1ace. Under such eircumstances, anyono may urite very eloquently about Secernber ueather;
but how is i1, lut of d.oors? Eow about the December days to the lingering dandelioas and toadflarc? Let us go out and get at the bottom of
thlngs, see r.rhat olu' eye6 are opea to see, aad hear what or1r' e&rs are
.A.11
attuned to..
Ttre snotr is about three-inches deep jn the fields and the nmd four*
inches deep in tha roads. a.Lternations of sun, rairr_fr9gt, and snor
storms have made a mortar bed of the trighways and uilItails of the
rtrnnels by t6e side paths. T.he thickets are stripped of thelr follagep
and there is hardly a plece where a rabblt can find shelter. Qnly
r.rhere evergreen boughs bend. dor,ae to the ground can he fiad a dry bed.
&Ven u{th raln and snou dror,}aing all, I do find some sheltered nooks
r:nder hen-loCks r,rhere the bed of neodles are dry and soft'' to these
a
I oftea craul and sit aao wonder if f could be satisfied to spend
faet
the
ilotwithstanding,
so
dlctate.
misfortune
nlght there shoul4
hjmself
thit r.*ren one slts by the fire jn a cory room he eannot reeoneil-e lufu:ir
to the att1tude of thought llved in b5r ta $a.11e, Parl:man, or John find.s
and other travelers and mountalnoers, he can easily do so nhen he
such a snug harbor under sheltering evergreens.
Sue r,rriter, Gibson, I think, saflsr thet the fop of the fields is ao
better than the fop of the sireets, and thE*t matrJr men t'o sanre tfem-'
selves fron this cirarge go out with gun, fishing rod', simplers bag,
or botany box.. I belteve he spoke truly for I have seen more than one
87
(seconcl pag;e
of no. 8?)
skirting the fences and hedgerous lately, r^rith a g?rn on h:ls should.er;;
bnt rdith nerrer a blt of ga:ne in his bag" Shey even returned to the
v:i1lage lrithout having burned a bit of powder, They must heve been
looking for somettriug besides pottage, for ofton sueh men in their
homely, straight-forward wey, can gite more accurate j-nformatioa
about Nature in an hour than e EProfessor*'ean give in a ueek. I did
not take a gun for fear f uould shoot a rabbit, a partridge, or nyself,
but reuemberlng that pigs were to be btrtchered bofore long, I took aa
axe and ,"rent out to get an ironuood sapling to make a gambrel of"
f kno-* of a ehopping where the young trees are so close together that
it is with difficn-lty that one ean make his way througkr bettteen then.
The trees are all of hard.wood and r*.i11 average airout three inches ln
d.iameter. ft is a 1evel piece of ground frorr wlrich the vater does not
rrrn readily, yet it is not swampy. f found more t'han a dozen kiad of
trees there;. beech, oak, maple, ash, eIm, etc. btrt no ironurood, and
it r.aas not until f had gone nearly through the piece and gained a rise
in grouad that I found the objeet of qy quest. So I recomnend that
uhen you lrish a gambrel, go to the highest point of the chopplng"
?he December features of tiris plaeo uere the clear, slleni; atmosphere,
trees stending stralght, ui.th every bough motionless, prostrate logs
holdiag up ridges of snolr, pools of orystal-c1ear snoru vater, and
every poo3. bottomed ru:lth russet loayes, There uere no rabbitsr tracks;
no paz'tridge had been there; all was 4 silent, trhite wast6 eovered
by a min:iature forest. It Has ao place for enthusiasm, for one herd,ly
ever gets enthusiastic over: places so monototrous. f n:ight half cloee
milr ey@s, even then iuagination would not llfe it, and transform it
to a ltforest priraevalll.. A very connonplace pieee of ground some mlght
say and retire to their home and stay there to estimste all naturets
scenery by lrhat that one excursidrn g&ve. I do not knor* bnrt that the
ironr+ood T reeeived ia my hands, and j-ron in sy blood, quite paid ne
for rqr palas,
It may a,muse you, thls attempt of rnine, to set forth this few acres
of saplings and call lt a forest, ilill you say i-t is on a par uith
aIL ttr-is fuss that is belng uade about the Casteli.nes, the l{anchestersn
and the Marlboroughs? $iho are these people uith their debts and their
dlgnity, their pride ancl their poverty, tl:at they should be so
honorable? I know a uian ln TSmone uho is as good at getting into debt
as they, yet r+e siu,ple-nri-nded vlI1age folk do aot think more of hin for
lt" they nay be ironwoods axong these saplings of the boni-elass, but
I have not gone high eaough to find them.
?he
pigs are butchererl, and r^rhen the neighbors have retr:rned the garnbrel,
it ,;i11 be layed away for next yearr s use, birt the a.xe lras not left to
rust ln the splitting block. December uith lts fj.rst zero rnornings
and thin nantle of snow is aa excellent season to cut uood for next
sumerr s fires. A neighbor has a large farm tri'i;h many elms along
the fences. fhese trees sap and shad.e the ground and in hls estimation
are a general nuisaEce, Bo he gave them to my father if he would remove
the ground. l.tf brother and i took the axe anci the crossterrible we&pons of destruction - and marched againsb them.
they are the kind of r,rood the venerable shay uas utade of"
them from
eut sau -
ntogs
of the Settlerrs
El1uftu
BBest of their timber - they couldntt sel1 r'em.
lsever an &xs had seen their chiPs,
Snd r'redges fletr from beiween thelr Iips,
their blunt ends friazled like celery tips.*
But uith patience, strength, and frost, nearly
of stoveuood along the meadoff fence..
all of them now 1ay in
heaps
ma.n loves to ehop trood- There is a faeinetlon about i-t
I cantt d.eseribe. The exereise, the BnoI{, ring of the axe, and si,rish
of the saw, the failing of the tree, ehickadees flying about and
snell of neu wood, aIL have their eharus. The Frime I'linj.ster of
earthr s prim.e empire lJas no except5-on, he loved to chop wood. Sow uany
cohnecting llnks there are betweon earthts least a,nd greatest, between
S.J*S. aud. l{.E.G.t fs thet faet alone not enough to 5.nspire one?
th*t the busj.ness of the year ls brought to a close in December, is
emphasiaed r,rhen one takes a ponition on some hilltop anci looks the
country o\ref., tlhere al l was resplendent witl'l color two monthsl agor. now
Bvery country
black fence-lines between farrn and fiel-ds aro the most eonspicuous
figures- Ilhen, before looking in any direction one might see men and
horses worklng, or herds of eattle or sheep pasturtng, BoId none are
there* 3o be sure oue ltray occasionally see a hunter and hound'
oreeplng across the whlte va1Iey, or hear a report near some deserted
stack, and see a puff of, smoke, yet the great impressioa made is that
some unseen being has dipped a sponge deop into some ocea$. of the slqy
and with it r,riped the slate of Nature clean, thea said to the snou,
tBe thou upon the earthn.
January
19011.
As has been said, anlrone may si'b rrithin doors and r,rito very eloquently
about Naturet YesI E"Loqrrently ts not truthfi:lIy. Hhere is the profit
of being able to tal-k so m,rch, rshen irhat ono says is not more than
half-true?
like some other months of the y6ari very colnfiIonplace to tho
superflcial beholder. Iet uhen one opens hls eyos and looks, he r,rlll
see mueh to interest and may be to astonish hle.
?o some, Uinter seems a vertible reign of terror, They speak of it
as the ttgrim Artic ffranttt; see frozeu heevens and a dead earth, a
nKingdom of dreartness or desolationtt and a score of other lnposslble
things, thlngs which f am sure you nsver saul or thought of ln your
uiater rambles. Even the commonplace !ilay of looking at things is better
January j-s
thaa the wl1d, fantastie wa;r.
88
(secorul page
of no. 88)
f
would advise sueh beholders to read the prelude to the second part
of the llisi.on of $j-r Launfal by Loue11, then go to tho nearest brook
and look at i.t, soek out some place rrhere iee lines the shore, 1et
them stuCy the undersi.de of the ice and see for themselves if touelI
exagerates. ]$o &lham.bri-an corrldor is equal to rshat he will see there,
no muslc of Aeolian is sweeter than that he rnay hear there, played on
the iey keys whieh hang dor,,mroard from the frozea ce1Iing"
fbees silhouetting against the gray sky naking arehitecture wortfur to
be the pattern of Gothic buiLders; pl1es of roeks or broken eregs
i+hich gave Norman eastle makers valuable htnts, tor+erlng trees r"rith
Long llmbs wound around blr vines, to be ivaitated on fiavenian friezes,
ar€ sone of the other sights January presents.
of snowtt are often a baekground on uhich the doings of
liessrs" Habbit, fuuirre1, l4ouse, or Orow can be deci-phered. How many
a farm boy ean teII you what animal has passed because it has in
departing loft footprints on the snow - Longfellor+ts footprlnte on
the sands of time being not rnore 1egib1e. The roadside drlfts too
are sculptured along their edges i.n a manner indeed beautifi:l. l{o
one can get at the r,rorth of th:ings without looking into their heart.
ItDreary uastes
If one goes deep enough, he uill find beauty and music iu abund.ance.
Sumer may force her charms on the obtuse, but Wlnter reserv€s hers'
only for true syrtipathizers. ?here is a uorld of li"fe anct action going
on under the snor+, and another exhibition of equal interest above lt.
Should the ttGrlm Artic $ranttt advocate talk to the rabbit ln hls
snugg€ry under the bramble-covered stumS:-fenco, hol* he might turn
away his Gars - or to the squirrel ln the holloi+ hickory, how he uright
laugh - or to the ekickadee, hanging donnward fron his Iimb, how
saueily he m:igi:t arsu€rr, The trle way to observe things is to look
at them so closely that ones frj.end a hundred niles alray $ay recognize
the bush and vine deseribed. to be lritbh hazel and bittersueet, The
rritch hazel spray you sent has lost lts fringe and orrly the cup-shaped.
pod is Ieft. I sarr marqr of them today along the old race and flurne.
Solr:mns of blue smoke atrose from a piece sg fs6,-1ying woodland not far
away yesterday and drew me thither. A d.ozen stumps uere burning and
tt$inkletl uas thore piling brush around them. Ee ovns the woodlot
and every winter rfiiles aruay his tlne there, hacking aronnd. The
place looks liJre an fndian oncarry)ment for piJes of poles stand on end,
wood. eui sled-Iength, and the fires there burning among them. Ore can
$ee no such sights in sumner as this is; lt trould not be safe to set
the fires" Ilere is a remnant of the pasti of days uhen men uere
half-savage, and ui.nter has preserved it for us" fiWinklott hiuself is a
specimen of other days, about the oaly one around here that has come
dowa to us. IIe Is a man uith no seemlng feer of the cold or other things
di.sagreeable or love fcr the flreside or klneired cornforts. He has
no notion for nor*-fangled id.eas or things nodern. The skur:.k trap,
rabbitts bumow, and partridge roost has greater charms for him than
anybhing else except eider. Day after day, he goes past with axe and
glrn. Go lnto the clearing any day, as I often do, and you mey stand
(tfrfra page of no.
BB)
by his burning stumps where his ere and rn:ittens 1ay in ldleness, but
where is liHi-nk1ett. Thread the stream tbrough brush and under bank,
aeross the d.am and over bridge, then come back ou the other side of the
creek, and r*hen you approach the llHlaiitrr, he may be seen skulking amid.
the flres, but when you come to th+u he has gone, axe, ni.ttens, and all"
*Hinklett is kind*hearted and makes great pets of his cat, dog, and
chickens, and when I eanre hone last spring, he broughi me many apples
that had hoon urapped in paper and eo kept fresh all winter, I have
been told that this man is such a one &s uas often seen in 1i.6 ngood
oId daysu. If so, I eonfess I love the product of the bad ner,r tlmes
better. Such a ms,ars heart can not be stirred by the beautiful
things of }laiure; the skunk and muskrat he loved to be surer, but only
because he can se1l their skins and eat their flesh. The gaLlery
and library have uo value fot' him because hj-s souJ. j-s too eoarse to
a&rtt them. the bark of the hound is sueeter to him then the music
of the piano, and ihe ox-stable better than a ).adyts parlor, In ay
esti-mation, the man trho best loves the llbrary, the gallery, the
pia.no, and the ladye, r"rl11 love ldature the most when once hs has $ade
her acquaintance. Cultivation brings out beauty, lguorance covers
&11 utth coarsnesss. man lives from with:in, not from withoutt' ffie
man who loves Eob trr{trite Just enough bo kiII anrl eat him, has failed
to get at Bobfs fine points. Iiappy is the day that never produced a
tllfinkleil..
The annual strlpping of ihe treesy as the trriter in The Express on
nThe llinter $,spect of treestt renarks, is i-nteresting iu br5-nging to
ot;r ettentioa a beau-i;y which r^rithout hi-s t*ould renain a secret. It
is verily true. A tree not ten rods from rqy d.oor would probably have
rernained unnoticed by me lf lt had not been for th:is leaf shedding*
ft is of the species r.re couatry folks call ye1low oak. Hhat },nmhaI
cal1s i.i;, I do not knor.r, but ask any lad of our valley to point out
a yelloi+ oak anrl he uill be sure to select such a one. Th:is tree is
about four-inches in diaureter and twenty-feet high; its bark is nearly
black rrith shallor,r longltudinal creasesi the inner portion of the
ba,t'k is very yellora and our mothers use it in colorlng. This oak is
peculiar because of the large number of gaI1s hanglng on j-t. they
are in nuraber thlrty-four - so$l€ as large as a r*alnut, ottrers the
siae of a hickory nut. 0n one tuig is a clump of four gaIIs,
and. ln several places two grou together. At least one-half of the gaIls
have a hole in them lrhere the insect has escaped or where some bird
has been carryi-ng on lts investigaiions.
the fiuke of Argrle tel1s us in his lInity of Nai;ure, thet the gall is
the result of a sting by the galI fty and that there is a great variety
of then growing either on 1eaf, fruit, twig, or root. $ome are Orlckly,
others rr,rrinkly, and. otiiers smooth. He says that ttthe great gap aird gulf
that lj.es in orgaaization botr+een the plant and the animal is sparueed and
bni6ged acrossn by this sano llttle fIy in its process of gaII buildingt
ead that knowledge of just how it ls done is not fu1Iy knolin even to
the most export eniomologist" The trees noet liable to exl:ibit ga13-s
are the oak, the r,rillolr, and the rose.
February
1901: Fpring
(Letters to Geo* i{. Boxall)
ntime makes anclent good uneouthtt., Ancient wisdom nay be subject to
same critieism or it may not be -. thet depend.s on its foundation.
$ome uiedou has its feet on the solid roek of demonstration; some
other 1s knee-deep in the slough ef guesswork
the
grandmothers uere all prophets - every one of
every sign of heaven and earth a.:rd gu:ided their
The fancles of fairyland are responsible for
Remusu and aThe G'reat Medieine Horselt. Those
half-fairy and. half-philosophic for Delphic oracles and 8t. Nicholas'
Qur orar d,ear o1d grandnothers established vlthin us great faith in
the $even $leepers-
Qur gfandfathers and
them. They observed
business according.
nBlue Beardnr ttUncle
The second oi'February came. The sun shone brightly and nelted the
slrotrr The Old Bear awoke *nd heard noises in the ground. ft' seemed
to him that ttre minor keys of $aturets great organ were being! touehed.
He thought he heard the tittle People Uader fhe Snow shout; so pulIed
his great shaggy blundering self to the mouth of his burrow only to
see the srxr skining. fhen he knew the earth nusle had only been a
rrubling in his e&rs - dream farrcies -. ar:d that he was destined to
starve aad sJ-eep six Ereeks longer, so crept moodily back to his nest.
Great 01d Bear, this, to be so wise in the sunlight, yet so ignorant
in the darkness of his den a few mlnutes befor"e.
&t evening on the same day, the moon was fuIL; there were just shadors
enough playing over the snor,r to break the box Pandora has hid in each
of our hearts. $uperstition fiJ*led the air, and the OId Bear raas not
ite only viet:hm. I walked that nlght to the vl-llage and. sat an hot:r
by the grocery fire and gossiped with the boys. Outsider a sleighing
party ga1"lqp6fl past and the coasters on the hill laughed and shouted
nerrily. Uhen f uent home, the air r,ras so c1ear and stllI that the
sleiglr bel1s dotm the valley rang doublo, belng throrm baek by the eeho
of tfie hills. ft.auo from a revery, I looked into the eastern sky and'
behond there encircling the moon rias a great ring of severr-hued light sone portions being as bright and varied as the rainbor,rr, others a
simple arc of orange end yellow. nA storral A stoumln shouted W
voices end that, within trro days, for see - there are tr+o stars within
the eircle.
Could it be possible that this beautiful day and night had been
rraegther brreederst? I raas as niuch dismayed as the OLd Bear had beene
IIe at $o1, T at Luna. I'lo very great edvocates of the ttstrenuous lifetrr
we two; tLe one to be so frightened a'i: his shadotrr the other at a
sundog. fild the stoi'm come, and uithin the tuo days as indieat'ed by
the siare? Yes, on the third i-t' snoued a IittIe, on thenffourth a
Iittle more, so that the knowing ones sniled and said, fuld you sor.
Hor,rever Uy tHe nert d.ay stsru began in earnest and finaily sune to be
one of thL worst, of the soasoa this far. Ilere certainly ls en instance
in uhieh the astrology of the rural dietriets is about as accurate ao
the more scientlfic prog::::::::nostlcati.ons of the metropolitan weather bureaB.
'elG
*JJ
On the flfteenth, the snou melted sor:e, anci et night the sun set
red snd elear." fiveryone saj-d it would sto:m before l,londay n:ight.
As I was on the lookout for the fulfillment or faih:re of signs, f
r.ras interested. lftren f atrose }"ionday morning, I found. it had snoned
about three inches.. A few days previously, the birds had chosen
their mates under the direetion of St. Valentine and a few days after
the Great Fatherrs birthday uas celebrated.
Febrtrary seems to me to be the nost peculiar month of the twelve. It
has a great deal of weather and a-11 kinds of superstition. Yet lt is
a hard month to r,mite about. !'lhile I am greatly interested in the
rnperstltions of February, I can get no kind of enthusiasm for the
birthdays of,' 1t. l,ltrl1e these birthdays are red-letter days on the
calendar in the hearts of the people, they seero to have lost their
sigrrificancer, and holidays are no more holy days but days ol roudlrism and horseplay,
fhe naue of the month is from a Latin word signifpi-ng
purity.
tde
knor+ there is a great deal in & rlainer fo be rnrell-named, at least
shows that one is o1- d.ecent parentage. It is not inconsistent that
a month so uel-l-naried should have associated trith it tt+o such men as
tincoln, the one ue mlght $ay gave the nation its
the other gave it stabillty. Hatever is good and strong
a"nd pure in our nation we flnd in the eheracters of then. At the same
tlme (whtle we dearly 1.ove a nan or thlng) it ls ueIl, as yoll suggest,
to worship then at a di.sta&ee, lest tJre god becomo an idol and. the
idol turn to clay. that rhich applies to nreu maJr as properly be
applied to months.
Washington ancj.
birth
and.
February may sirow up befiore us j.n a fashion riost poetic or picturesqlue, and it is well that lt does. Feaces, forests, hiIls, haze, and
leaden skies are all plguents used in the picture. Very coruuonpl&eemateriels they are, so bamen or frozen or snoll-eovered. If ue take
them separately aud i-nspect them one by one, their beauty, their
interest all nay flow away and we be left rrith the feeling that they
are too houely to share our enthusiasm. But stand ewaJr, as the artist
or art lover uould, and all is blended into one grand harmony. $hould
one go up to a great masterpi.ece and serape it, he would say it is
nothing but oiI and mj-nerals; brrt vieued from afar through an eye and
heart of sy:apattry, behold trt is Hary and the Cb:f1d - the very
embod.jraent of pr:rity depleted. Though Fobruary may give us llttle to
enthuse ov€r, the faet of its nane w'111 assoclate it ln our thoughts
rdth the things white and faultless.
March 190Lr
I dontt know uW those oId-time people naned the month of },{arch for
mar$, the God of War, unless tho row of ici.cles hanging from the eaves
of tbeir buildings F,r:.t them in nind of bristlihg spears in the hands
of thelr leglons when poised to receive a eharge fron galloping bodies
of Cothic or }fuqish horsemen. fu second thoughi, I lronder if they ever
had any icicles in that sr:mmerland where they were in the habit of
naming months!
9o
(seeon'* page
of no. 90)
they named it in honor of gcod St. l,iartln, lt had been more
appropriate, for does lt not do s he didl that is, give alray its
garnent to something in need? He gave his mantle of purple to a
naked beggar - it gives lts mantle of erinine to the ttrirsty wells
and poverty-strieken brooks. Again, the battling winds, spring sunshine overcon:ing wi-nterls gloom, sap fighiiag its tlay along choked
and frozen aqueducls in trees and plants, rushing uuddy streams and
the general inversion of things natural as the sun doubles on hin.
self and takes his backward traek torrards the S6uthe:rr Crossr ms5r
have so$ethlng to do 1'rith it. $o natter, the winds are here, the
clouds ere flying, the snor ls Soingr and the $oven &leepers are
Hed
awakening.
This sprlng the sign of the Old Bear did not prove correct, for f
saw the woodchuck the tenth, and as the teood.chuek or ground hog ls
identieLe ruith the 01d tsear in the sign, he should not have come
out until six r,reeks after the second of February.
Ilow dlfferent this },farch has been frour some that I have kept a
record, of. 0n the fifth I r+ent out {eccording to my usuel custom)
and everything lras eovered wlth snou, cold, and desolate'. Catkins
on several trees snd shrubs Just began to show themselves, and were
not over half an inch long and hardLy a bit hairy. Ttre red meples
showed color onJ.y by a Yery wide stretch of the {Re6tne.bj.oa-. I-
be ctiaritable but could not help feeling that $ature
dealt very nlgardly rith me.
trled to
had
On the fourteenth at seven &.$. the mercury stood at thirty-six
d.egrees above zero, but lt was eloudy and snowflakes uere in evid6Bce. on stepping out of doors, I heard a sound which quickened ny ciroula'r,ion and, caused me to rush back and take my eoat and
hat and waLk a few rods dorm the road tor*ard Beech FLat, and there
arn{d. the buds of the eumech is sau robins feeding. In the orchard
above the house I heard others. The fj-rst robin of the centur3ll
It traE a red eapital at the top of the white preface of the ues book.
fhis first robints notes ereated in me a thrill calculated to start
the currents of endoavor runnlng afresh. The coarse fqxDilier cal*ls
of, the erou on all si*es seemed to borroli a cheeri.er sound from it.
As the day cleared and tho atmosphere beca&e silent, the forests of
Plae Enob transformed their green l"nto blue and f}:ng it into the
valley. Ehe pendant bal1s of the cottomwood, and the russet leaves
of the lower oaks stirred not, for the wind held its breath; the
cackle of hens ancl the clarion of cocks puured ia upon us from yardS
near and. fer; and {t really seemed that Eden Has hrddlng afresh.
Thls was true, at least in r*y heart, if not over the surface of the
earth. The fourtsenth day of March wes a hapfry day for rae - one of
those d^ays whieh reasonablp comes in every life nhen the m:ist $eems
to slear ar*ry and youth is reneued. fhere is poetry in such a da#i
the heart singss ihough the lips utter it not. the ear may not be
fine enough to separate i-ts vowel$, nor the fingers eunn:ing euough
to r.gite.jts consonants, yet it is stamped on the tablet of memory *
an inefacable ssnnet,
to be read
trhenever one r+i11.
0n the eighteenth, I went out and added tuo more notes of harmor4y to
uy collection. they r,lere the bluebird and. the arbutus. There i.s a
g"assy slope not far from the house uhere a feu vines oi' arbutus
have escaped the hands of flower gatberere, and every spring they
open their blossous to the sun" f have knorar the place sinee boyhood and in the springtime r.rhen I am here go to look at theu" I
a-luays go aLone, for f ala afraid if I took corryany their zeal might
not be able to stand. temptation and the vi.nes r+ou1d get uprooted.
Such cases as this are ellong those I think vheu we are Justified in
being a little selfish. Yet I am not unruilling to pick a fer,r blossoms and sarry them to some frj.end rehom I knora uilI not aek questions.
c'l
I&y 1901r
I{hat to write about r"rhen ever;rbhlng is in blossou urtless it be
blossoms, it is hard to detern:ine. They are seen in nearly every
direction and you are as familiar with them as f am. One of the
lovellest stghts presented to me Late1y, f satr today, f weat to the
cenetery and fotmd a glave on r,rhj.eh violets had been set" Large
quantities had been gattrered and transplaatecl there and are nou one
ccuplete mass of flouers. I{ot}r-ing in cultivated plants eould be
finer. The laur that prevailes at Forest taua and forbids setting'
flowers 1s not Joorntr here, end I am glad of it. f sha-ll prrchase a
lot aacl bring my wife and ba.by and bury them hero.
Sre week ago,
I
went
to the hills north of the village
uhere the
borry fielcis and vineyards aro an<i r*as caught in 'i;he raia. I sat
for half and hour under a five-fuaved pine and uatched the rain eome
over the lake and valley and up the hlIlside. Though it came doi,rn
pretty sharply, I di#. not get uet for f siood close io the tree trunk.
The insecrr,$ on the bark did. not ini;erest ue much, so f tux'ned to
watch the clouds whieh uer€ sometiues li^ke long flor,ring manes of
horses, sometimes like rotting bariks oi smoke. Often the rain seenn.
ed to come from a perieet, cil.oudless sky' After the shoger had
passed ne a most beautiful rainbow spanned ihe va11ey, stretched from
mft Ao hilI, one end of i"b being br,rt a few rods from me. f did not
tidnk about getting ihe bag of gold hj-dden there urtil it uas too 1ate.
and robins d.id not mind the shouer but Eang with their usuaL
lustiness. The bi.rd songs, together nith the rainbow, and clouds,
the uats of moirntaln pinks growing near, made a courplete synphony of
color, souad, and fragr&&C@r After the kower I went farther up the
hi1lr-through the trellised fields and looked dowr lnto the valley and
reJoiced that it is uy birthpLacet. trhe spot uhere $LoveB yo1ng dreantt'
came, the home of my parents, and where my wife wiIL rest before long.
6rioles
ln the peper you sent about the dedlcation of the Pandnerican. It was a grand occasion and I would have been happy had. I
been there. So roany f1agS, such mrsic and speeches, tends to make
one haye faith in men and things and keep him young. I greatly
f
read today
adrrlred I'h.
Almaytoi.il
poem, rlinng Toiln-
(second page of no. 91)
I{ow nmch f missed by not belag tihere I lrIIL never knou" Yet the
20th of i4ay 1901 ms not throi,m almy on me for I r,ras in the m:idst
of scenes that never grow oId and never lose their lnterest,, fn
fact, the more the eye beholds thena and the nearer the hoart 1nterprets them, the better they beeome. ?he homing pigeons did not
brlng &e messages about their neeks or und.er their rrings, but the
morniag dove d:ld as sbe sat oa her nest in an oak under whLch f
pass every day. ?hey are lrrappecl ln litt1e oval shells and uiIL
soon be flylng creatures. I{o flags flapped over rry head but
apple blossoms d.ripped their perfume on m6i no bands blared
marches but the wtad played harmoniesl no poets saug salutati-ons
but orioles plped melodj.es and robins shouted anthems. 'ldith all
this pouring in upolr me the 1lve-long day, if I did not gain somethlng you know, I must be dulL"irideed.. ff a uLLd flouer can grow
up and beeome a subject of eonmendatioa by a $aviour to a lost
vorld, had not a $an even in a rrilderness, if surrounded.r by
creatures tniJdly beautiful ought to beeome eonmendable? Ee may
also aspire to become cultlvated and r,rise in a lra;rr
I love the city because tl:e gen:ius of 3rt is displayed there, I
love the country because the geaius of Natr:re is there spread out.
f have had a yearts iastructlon and. entertainment in the one, I
uill" soon come to enJoy the other a l-ittle tine before Iong. I
ka-v.e ahanged scthe since you s&tr mei )S face is not as whlte nor
my hands as soft.. firn and rain and r,rind and Klng To11 have
bronzed and. hardened them. I know thab bronzed faces are not as
luuch adelred on men as they are on tablots. l,ihf? Perhaps because
only the good, great or helpful ones are ever put on the tahlets.
ft has rained here for eight days ln succession. At sueh se&sons
aice it would be to have a cottage in which one could sloep
in the attic and heav the rain on the roof, a fireplace tc heap
crooked r.rood on, a few books to read r.rhon one feIt, llke it, and
. eould write a littIe aad ldle a good dea1.
Eren as 5.t is, the mouents that I si;anci with ny hands i-n agr pockets and uatch the Sog banks sail aloag the hlllsldes or listen
to the creek roaring, are delightful, I have been at work tno or
three days in a brush lot alL aloae laiieIy. The days seemed so
short. Hoods uere on trao sides and they abounded trith birds aad
idld cherry blossoms. The perfunne of slippery e}4, sassafras,
wintergreen and pepperrnint laded the breezes from t'hem. In places
ffiay apples greu thickly, in others trlJ.-liuns both whlte end purple
cronded together. A,t the edge of the uood, spring-beauty was
plentiftrl and In narshy plaoes violets greff?
fhe fallor,r rc&s on the hillside and I could, look dowa on village and
valIey. There, I vas klng of all the survey+ Sometjnes it rained.,
then f sat under hemLoek trees and kept dry. .A.fter the shower I
uent out and uoured the bushes and flirted the water all ovor nyse}fl,
&t night f walked home, a mlle and a ha1f, as fresh as r+hen f r.rent
out in the mornlng, r-rork in harmoniolts surroundiags all day, have
congeu-ia1 companlonship in the evenlng, sweet sleep at nigtrt, is
about a.11 thelt ls reqrrired to constltute genuine $uccess. Honey,
education, influencel etc. are but the fril1s that almost lnvariably eoue Hith it in course of time,
how
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i_r-:l
1971
,
ti-re Tyrone tounslrip nkip r;as traced from a Schuyler County llighway Dept.
i.{ap encl is to scale of I-inch to the mile. I drew the other smaller nrap
of entire county -f-inch to the mi1e.
in liew York State' I had not been
able to d.o so before as the lakes and. villages trere so snall that tirey
were not shown. The northr,rest part of $chuyler County can be located
These tuo rnaps serve
on a state
to locate
hig"hr,ray map
TJrrone
as lying between the southern ends of Keuka and
Seneca Lakes.
sorry not to be abLe to have shotryr ihe nanes of 1oca1 streets or
roads shown in fj.ne print on the county hiEhway map. The priated nap
as lrell as nry copy shows the county roads in red passin8,: ihrougr tlie
village of ffioni ft l-ists the otirer principal street of the village
on which grandparents lived starts
.
as
to tire Tobehanna River to
paral)-el
sho
nea
gre village uhere it joins the county road running ti.rough the village
para11e1 [o Church i{iIl Street. The Grist }'fi11r Blaeksmith Shop, and
bo,intry Store in t, e village uere on this continuation of 1'{111 $treet.
Grandplrents liveci on I'Iil1 Street about opposlte to where the lor.rer branch
lake shore is
of thl Tobehanna enters the river. The road alongoldthecemetery
i"s called
bire
by
rurming
that
und
ca11ed Lamoka Lerke Boad.
f
am
Cemetery ltoacl.
-=-Cr*.#,
as
$5SZ ft) and House iii1l is cal1ed'
creek betueen these hil1s owens
he valley in ioh it lies tr{est IloiLlow. The map ealls the
past tyrone the
, and the one flowlng
netr
instead
of ryn'
an
spellecl uith
The other hilIs or nobs referred to rrnder Six }iations ls shor.rn on Inap
g7s5 ft), and *Sar i+n-(zoso rt1.
i""riii;,lu+ii-iieei ;ii;
and when revisiting the Slx
to one of- th
Dad.ffi
.
I,Iations area one day spoke of looklng dor+n lnto the va-1ley of-Sq9r9ekyears
to
10
he
ms
7
It was in that section- uhere they 1lved froro the tj-me
is
shoun
(1720 ft).
oId.
is not g;iven on the county map brut I have rnarked it
fourth creek he meniioned flor,rj-ng into Lamoka on the
east side is on1-y partly shoun in the Lower Left-hand CoTll€Tr
The name south creek
r.rlth that re.In6r The
Population
+
and "r{atk/ins Glen the county
is probably due to a large
."*t"." b.rbt3. ltre smail populai;ion count
sleny
acres held as parks such
and
use of the area for suinmer tuli.l*oce
as the Srrgar Hill Becreation ltrrea, I{'Y'S'
The 1960 population
of the county
r,ras 151044
ehip, $ehuyler eorrnty, }[. I,
$zone Tomship is the nbrthrest corner of $chuyler Sounty
d
1971
qj
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.+
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Schttryler County,
$.I*
the County $eat is Hatkins GLen,
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