. The story of my boyhood and youth . ur or five miles to thewestward. In the mean while we enjoyed ourfreedom as usual, wandering in the fields andmeadows, looking at the trees and flowers,snakes and birds and squirrels. With the helpof the nearest neighbors the little shanty wasbuilt in less than a day after the rough bur-oaklogs for the walls and the white-oak boards forthe floor and roof were got together. To this charming hut, in the sunny woods,overlooking a flowery glacier meadow and alake rimmed with white water-lilies, we werehauled by an ox-team across trackless carexswamps and low r
. The story of my boyhood and youth . ur or five miles to thewestward. In the mean while we enjoyed ourfreedom as usual, wandering in the fields andmeadows, looking at the trees and flowers,snakes and birds and squirrels. With the helpof the nearest neighbors the little shanty wasbuilt in less than a day after the rough bur-oaklogs for the walls and the white-oak boards forthe floor and roof were got together. To this charming hut, in the sunny woods,overlooking a flowery glacier meadow and alake rimmed with white water-lilies, we werehauled by an ox-team across trackless carexswamps and low rolling hills sparsely dottedwith round-headed oaks. Just as we arrivedat the shanty, before we had time to look at itor the scenery about it, David and I jumpeddown in a hurry off the load of household goods,for we had discovered a blue jays nest, and ina minute or so we were up the tree beside it,feasting our eyes on the beautiful green eggsand beautiful birds, — our first memorablediscovery. The handsome birds had not seen [ 62 ]. o Q<w wQ <O wIh Q <•J < DO w -. 3 u J3 o <uu J* CO A New TVorld Scotch boys before and made a desperatescreaming as if we were robbers like themselves;though we left the eggs untouched, feeling thatwe were already beginning to get rich, andwondering how many more nests we should findin the grand sunny woods. Then we ran alongthe brow of the hill that the shanty stood on,and down to the meadow, searching the treesand grass tufts and bushes, and soon discovereda bluebirds and a woodpeckers nest, and be-gan an acquaintance with the frogs and snakesand turtles in the creeks and springs. This sudden plash into pure wildness —baptism in Natures warm heart — how utterlyhappy it made us! Nature streaming intous, wooingly teaching her wonderful glowinglessons, so unlike the dismal grammar ashesand cinders so long thrashed into us. Herewithout knowing it we still were at school;every wild lesson a love lesson, not whipped butcharmed int
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectfrontie, bookyear1913
