f cold water!"

Then those who had come in autos gathered as many pedestrians into
them as they would hold in leaving the house, or caught them up
fainting by the way.

Lindora and Florindo watched them from their veranda.

"Well, my dear," he said, "it's been a wonderful afternoon; an immense
stride forward in the cause of anti-eating--or--"

"Don't _speak_ to me!" she cried.

"But it leaves one rather hungry, doesn't it?"

"_Hungry!_" she hurled back at him. "I could eat a--I don't know
what!"

XV

CITY AND COUNTRY IN THE FALL

A Long-distance Eclogue

1902

_Morrison._ Hello! Hello! Is that you, Wetherbee?

_Wetherbee._ Yes. Who are you? What do you want with me?

_Morrison._ Oh, nothing much. It's Morrison, you know;
Morrison--down at Clamhurst Shortsands.

_Wetherbee._ Oh!
Why, Morrison, of course! Of course, I know!
How are you, Morrison? And, by the way,
_Where_ are you? What! You never mean to say
You are down there _yet_? Well, by the Holy Poker!
What are you doing there, you ancient joker?

_Morrison._ Sticking it out over Thanksgiving Day.
I said I would. I tell you, it is gay
Down here. You ought to see the Hunter's Moon,
These silver nights, prinking in our lagoon.
You ought to see our sunsets, glassy red,
Shading to pink and violet overhead.
You ought to see our mornings, still and clear,
White silence, far as you can look and hear.
You ought to see the leaves--our oaks and ashes
Crimson and yellow, with those gorgeous splashes,
Purple and orange, against the bluish green
Of the pine woods; and scattered in between
The scarlet of the maples; and the blaze
Of blackberry-vines, along the dusty ways
And on the old stone walls; the air just balm,
And the crows cawing through the perfect calm
Of afternoons all gold and turquoise. Say,
You ought to have been with wife and me to-day,
A drive we took--it would have made you sick:
The pigeons and the partridges so thick;
And on the hill just beyond Barkin's lane,
Before you reach the barn of Widow Payne,
Showing right up against the sky, as clear
And motionless as sculpture, stood a deer!
Say, does that jar you just a little? Say,
How have you found things up there, anyway,
Since you got back? Air like a cotton string