find the brightness of the lemon glow in the west, when I emerged from the shadowy aisles of the wood, while on the other side of me the flame-coloured leaves of the sassafras and the light yellow garments of the hickories and birches, relieved against their darker brethren, seemed the forerunners of another day.

Passing along the road, here and there a warm breath from across the drier grass clove the cool, damp air of the gathering twilight; the glow on the sky changed from lemon to deep orange, against which the hills rested in nearly black masses; the glow narrowed, and above it in surprising brilliancy shone the evening star like a glittering gem, while in front rose our lovely tapering church spire, of which we are proud, -that familiar finger post of the Christian world which we all love whatever be the peculiarities of our various theories.

OCTOBER 7, 1893.

III.

THIS has been a typical autumn day; glittering and cool in the morning with high wind; thermometer fifty-six degrees ; a clear blue sky gradually flecked with passing clouds; then heavier and denser masses, becoming more and more numerous until the whole heavens formed a leaden vault in delicately shaded tones, with here and there a break from time to time, through which the bright sun lighted up for a moment the tinted landscape.

I started to explore the woodland road wherein darkness overtook me last week. Passing through the village street, the fragrance of the late apples carried me back at once to the great show at Chicago. You cannot help remembering, if you were not so unfortunate as to have missed it, that the most refreshing experience at the Fair was a walk through the fruit-lined passages of the Horticultural Building, the delicious odour of the ripe fruit appealing more directly to your sense of bien-être than their magnificent size or gorgeous colour. It is well known, by the way, that the sense of smell awakens the memory and recalls the past through association of ideas more promptly than any other.

The road I was travelling passed, you will remember, to the westward of Rattlesnake Mountain. As it buried itself deeper in the wood, it likewise climbed higher, curving round and clinging to the side of the hill, here gently sloping. The fallen leaves, which were soft and moist last week, have now become crisp and much more numerous. Who does not delight in scuffling through them, and in the rustling sound, although this is anything but musical in the ordinary sense !

The foliage upon the trees has been thinned so much that the hillside shows massive rocks hitherto clothed with verdure, and from the summit protrudes in bold relief the rugged core of the mountain. Curving more and more to the left, the path emerged at length into an open field on the yonder side, in the midst of a herd of cattle peaceably grazing there; all around forest-clad hills, a very flower-garden in colour, with a depression on the northeast, where, in the middle distance, the gilded dome of the Capitol shone in a passing gleam of sunlight, against the blue hills on the further side of the great river. Skirting the edge of the wood, which for a time shut off the view of the higher ground, the path at length wholly deserted me as I found myself near the foot of the talus from the cliffs which formed the summit.

I was left to take my chances among the woodchuck holes, the hypothetical rattlesnakes, and upon the sliding fragments of rock. But remembering that the latter naturally found for themselves a position of stable equilibrium, I ventured upon them with the care which every one is bound to take in such a place, increased to the nth power by the reflection of the cautious man upon the serious predicament in which he would find himself in case of a mishap occurring in an unfrequented locality.

Clambering around among great detached masses of rock which stood out boldly midst the trees, and speculating upon the possibility of in some way scaling the highest of these, I became conscious of the pleasant odour of burning leaves, but also apprehensive lest disastrous fire might be running loose in the woods. Approaching a fissure among the rocks, however, I perceived a thin smoke issuing therefrom and learned the source of the odour, and after a few minutes I came in sight of two little girls, to whom a pleasant "Good-morning" introduced me sufficiently to obtain for me an invitation to go into the "cave," where Grandpa had just built a fire for their delectation.

Grandpa proved to be a native, successor to several generations of such, sturdily loyal to the neighbourhood and intelligently familiar with its localities, characteristics, and traditions. The cave, which with a little labour might be made into a comfortable enough residence, was formed of heavy masses of basaltic rock leaning against each other, and some hundred years ago it was the occasional home of one of those "hermits" whom tradition has scattered through the land, restless geniuses, who, for one reason or another, found it more to their taste to "go back to nature" than to live in houses made with hands. This one bore the distinction of having left a name behind him, and had been personally known to the grandmother of my new friend.

My new acquaintance was quite an acqui