wn nuts, delicious strawberries, and
venomous snakes. These last were generally more the creatures of
imagination than of reality, for in all my wanderings over those
fields, and they were many, I never but once trod upon a green snake,
and only once was I chased by a white-ringed blacksnake; so I think I
am safe in saying that the snakes were not so numerous as were the
nuts and berries, which grew there in great profusion.

A little to the right of the woods, where, in winter, Bill, Joe,
Lizzie, and I dragged our sleds and boards for the purpose of riding
down-hill, was a merry, frolicking stream of water, over which, in
times long gone, a sawmill had been erected; but owing to the
inefficiency of its former owner, or something else, the mill had
fallen into disuse, and gradually gone to decay. The water of the
brook, relieved from the necessity of turning the spluttering wheel,
now went gayly dancing down, down, into the depths of the dim old
woods, and far away, I never knew exactly where; but having heard
rumors of a jumping-off place, I had a vague impression that at that
spot the waters of the mill-dam put up!

Near the sawmill, and partially hidden by the scraggy pine trees and
thick bushes which drooped over its entrance, was a long, dark
passage, leading underground, not so large, probably, as Mammoth Cave,
but in my estimation rivaling it in interest. This was an old mine,
where, years before, men had dug for gold. Strange stories were told
of those who, with blazing torches, and blazing noses, most likely,
there toiled for the yellow dust. The "Ancient Henry" himself, it was
said, sometimes left his affairs at home, and joined the nightly
revels in that mine, where cards and wine played a conspicuous part.
Be that as it may, the old mine was surrounded by a halo of fear which
we youngsters never cared to penetrate.

On a fine afternoon an older sister would occasionally wander that
way, together with a young M.D., whose principal patient seemed to be
at our house, for his little black pony very frequently found shelter
in our stable by the side of "old sorrel." From the north garret
window I would watch them, wondering how they dared venture so near
the old mine, and wishing, mayhap, that the time would come when I,
with some daring doctor, would risk everything. The time _has come_,
but alas! instead of being a doctor, he is only a lawyer, who never
even saw the old mine in Rice Corner.

Though I never