Boggy solitudes of Nantucket . sensitive ferns throngthe little colony over w^hich the king soproudly reigns. Not a step can be taken without crushingout the life of some of them, while in an ad-joining realm, so to speak, are great crownsof cinnamon osmunda, five or six feet tall,with their woolly-headed croziers,—whichthe little birds so love, using the fern cottonto soften their nests. Here also is a colony ofsmaller swamp ferns: indeed BOGGY SOLITUDES OF NANTUCKET 21 Pleasures He thickest where no pleasures seem,Theres not a leaf that falls upon the groundBut holds some joy of silence or o
Boggy solitudes of Nantucket . sensitive ferns throngthe little colony over w^hich the king soproudly reigns. Not a step can be taken without crushingout the life of some of them, while in an ad-joining realm, so to speak, are great crownsof cinnamon osmunda, five or six feet tall,with their woolly-headed croziers,—whichthe little birds so love, using the fern cottonto soften their nests. Here also is a colony ofsmaller swamp ferns: indeed BOGGY SOLITUDES OF NANTUCKET 21 Pleasures He thickest where no pleasures seem,Theres not a leaf that falls upon the groundBut holds some joy of silence or of soundBut sprite begotten of a summer dream. A little marsh plant, yellow green,And pricked at lip with tender red,Tread close, and either way you treadSome faint black water jets you should bruise the curious head. You call it sundew: how it with its color it have breath,If life taste sweet to it, if deathPain its soft petal, no man knows:Man has no sight or sense that saith. —Swinburne. CHAPTER II. I sprang out of bed OB WHITE! Bob White! It was butdawn, and anotherday was breaking,when I turned oversleepily, trying torouse myself, andwondering why BobWhite was pleadingso early. Bob White! BobWhite!and ran over to the little w^indow from which there was a gloriousview of a long stretch of moorland meltinginto low hills covered with all the differentshades of green, from the pale leaves of thebay berry to the blackness of the stuntedgrowth of heath-like little shrubs. It all 25 26 BOGGY SOLITUDES OF NANTUCKET looked lovely and peaceful in the gray dawn,which was now gradually taking on a brilliantrosy hue, for the sun, not caught napping asI had been, was getting ready to leap abovethe distant horizon, bringing in his train an-other day. Right under the window was the dear littlefellow, my Bob White, in his soft brownfeather coat, and he seemed to be quite soon along there came hopping a littlefellow in red vest, who sang out, Cheer up!Chee
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