unfortunate, because I seldom came forth from these trials unscathed.
I was always tearing my dresses in clambering over fences, or bumping
my head in creeping under. Where others cleared brooks with a light
spring, I landed in the middle. I was sure to pick out spongy, oozy,
slippery grass to stand upon, in marshy land, or was yet more likely
to slump through over shoes in black mud. Banks always caved in
beneath my feet, unexpectedly. Brambles seemed to enter into a
conspiracy to lay violent hands on me, and hidden boughs lay in wait
to trip me up. Moss and bark scaled off the trunks of fallen trees,
bearing me with it when I was least on my guard, or the trunks
themselves, solid enough to all appearance, crushed to powder beneath
my unwary tread. Even the stone walls deserted me. I made use of one
as a bridge, one day, to reach a golden cowslip that grew temptingly
in a swamp; but a treacherous stone rolled off with me, and a perfect
avalanche of huge rocks followed, splashing the muddy water all over
me as I sat, helplessly, buoyed up by the tall grass. I regret to say,
I forgot the cowslip.




THE OSTRICH.


Of the wild and wayward Ostrich, say, have ye never heard?
Of the poor, distracted, lonely, outcast, and wandering bird?
Which is not a bird of heaven, nor yet a beast of earth,
But ever roveth, homeless,--a creature of strange birth.
Wings hath it, but it flies not. And yet within its breast
Are strange and sleepless drivings, so that it may not rest;