t of Duck Island--the smallest in the United States--resumes its
activities; the school-house is open, the teacher raps on the desk, and
the fourteen children of the keepers apply themselves to the knowledge
that is dried in books.

III

IN THE GULLS' BATH-TUB

Over our cottage we saw them flying inland every morning about ten or
eleven o'clock; in groups of three or four; in companies of twelve or
twenty; sometimes a solitary bird, hurrying a little as if he were
belated. Over our cottage we saw them flying seaward every afternoon,
one or two at a time, and then, at last, a larger company all together.
The trail through the woods, up along the lovely mountain-brook, led us
in the same direction as the gulls' path through the air. A couple of
miles of walking underneath green boughs brought us to the shores of
Jordan Pond, lying in a deep gorge between the mountains of rock with
the rounded, forest-clad Bubbles at its head, and the birches, and
maples, and poplars, and hemlocks fringing its clean, stony shores.
Then we understood what brought the gulls up from the sea every day.
They came for a fresh-water bath and a little fun in the woods.

Look at them, gathered like a flotilla, in the centre of the pond. They
are not feeding; they are not attending to any business of importance;
they are not even worrying about their young; they are not doing
anything at all but "bath-ing" themselves, as my little lad used to
say, in this clear, cool, unsalted water, and having the best time in
the world. See how they swim lazily this way or that way, as the fancy
strikes them. See how they duck their heads, and stretch their long
wings in the air, and splash the water over one another; how they preen
their feathers and rise on the surface, shaking themselves. Here comes
a trio of late starters, flying up from the sea. They hover overhead a
moment, crying out to the crowd below, which answers them with a
general shout and a flutter of excitement. Didn't you hear what they
said?

"Hello, fellows! How's the water?'

"Bully! Just right--come in quick's you can!" So the new arrivals swoop
down, spreading out their tails like fans, and dangling their feet
under them, and settling in the centre of the crowd amid general
hilarity.

How long the gulls stay at their bath I do not know. Probably some of
the busy and conscientious ones just hurry in for a dip and hurry back
again. Others, of a more pleasure-loving temperament,