g down a flood of chaste illumination;
while, exhaled from the waters by his first beams, a silvery gauze-like
haze floated along the shores, not rising to the height of ten feet from
the limped surface, which lay unbroken by the smallest ripple,
undisturbed by the slightest splash of fish or insect, as still and
tranquil to the eye as though it had been one huge plate of beaten
burnished silver; with the tall cones of the gorgeous hills in all their
rich variety, in all their clear minuteness, reflected, summit downward,
palpable as their reality, in that most perfect mirror.

Such was the scene on which I gazed, as on the last day of our sojourn
in the Woodlands of fair Orange, I issued from the little cabin, under
the roof of which I had slept so dreamlessly and deep, after the fierce
excitement of our deer hunt, that while I was yet slumbering, all save
myself had risen, donned their accoutrements, and sallied forth, I knew
not whither, leaving me certainly alone, although as certainly not so
much to my glory.

From the other cottage, as I stood upon the threshold, I might hear the
voices of the females, busy at their culinary labors, the speedily
approaching term of which was obviously denoted by the rich savory
steams which tainted--not, I confess, unpleasantly--the fragrant morning
air.

As I looked out upon this lovely morning, I did not, I acknowledge it,
regret the absence of my excellent though boisterous companions; for
there was something which I cannot define in the deep stillness, in the
sweet harmonious quiet of the whole scene before me, that disposed my
spirit to meditation far more than to mirth; the very smoke which rose
from the low chimneys of the Teachmans' colony--not surging to and fro,
obedient to the fickle winds--but soaring straight, tall, unbroken,
upward, like Corinthian columns, each with its curled capital--seemed to
invite the soul of the spectator to mount with it toward the sunny
heavens.

By-and-by I strayed downward to the beach, a narrow strip of silvery
sand and variegated pebbles, and stood there long, silently watching the
unknown sports, the seemingly--to us at least--unmeaning movements, and
strange groupings of the small fry, which darted to and fro in the clear
shallows within two yards of my feet; or marking the brief circling
ripples, wrought by the morning swallow's wing, and momently subsiding
into the wonted rest of the calm lake.

How long I stood there musing I