lingers and sits down, strewing dandelions of gold, and blue asters, as
her parting gifts and memorials! I went to a grapevine, which I have
already visited several times, and found some clusters of grapes still
remaining, and now perfectly ripe. Coming within view of the river, I
saw several wild ducks under the shadow of the opposite shore, which was
high, and covered with a grove of pines. I should not have discovered
the ducks had they not risen and skimmed the surface of the glassy
stream, breaking its dark water with a bright streak, and, sweeping
round, gradually rose high enough to fly away. I likewise started a
partridge just within the verge of the woods, and in another place a
large squirrel ran across the wood-path from one shelter of trees to the
other. Small birds, in flocks, were flitting about the fields, seeking
and finding I know not what sort of food. There were little fish, also,
darting in shoals through the pools and depths of the brooks, which are
now replenished to their brims, and rush towards the river with a swift,
amber-colored current.

Cow Island is not an island,--at least, at this season,--though, I
believe, in the time of freshets, the marshy Charles floods the meadows
all round about it, and extends across its communication with the
mainland. The path to it is a very secluded one, threading a wood of
pines, and just wide enough to admit the loads of meadow hay which are
drawn from the splashy shore of the river. The island has a growth of
stately pines, with tall and ponderous stems, standing at distance enough
to admit the eve to travel far among them; and, as there is no
underbrush, the effect is somewhat like looking among the pillars of a
church.

I returned home by the high-road. On my right, separated from the road
by a level field, perhaps fifty yards across, was a range of young