much given to
outdoor life as many of the frequenters of Woodlands, liked to sit in
the library, weaving some poetic vision of his own or watching the
flight of the tireless pen across the page.

By and by the pen would drop upon the desk, its task finished for that
morning, and the worker would look up with an air of surprise at
becoming aware of his companion and say: "Near dinner time, old boy.
What do you say to a sherry and soda?" As there was only one thing to
be said to a sherry and soda, this was the signal for repairing to the
dining room. By the time the sherry and soda sparkled hospitable
welcome the sportsmen returned and after doing justice to the genius
of the host in mixed drinks, they were seated around a generous table,
most of the good things with which it was laden having come from the
waters and fields and vines of Woodlands. For if a world-wide war had
closed all the harbors of earth Woodlands could still have offered
luxurious banquets to its guests. The host beguiled the time with
anecdotes, of which he had an unfailing store that never lost a point
in his telling, or declaimed poetry, of which his retentive memory
held an inexhaustible collection.

The feast was followed by cigars, Simms having begun to smoke of late
years to discourage a tendency to stoutness. Then all would join in
the diversions of the afternoon, which sometimes led to the "Edge of
the Swamp," a gruesome place which the poet of Woodlands had
celebrated in his verse. Here

Cypresses,
Each a great, ghastly giant, eld and gray
Stride o'er the dusk, dank tract.

Around the sombre cypress trees coiled

Fantastic vines
That swing like monstrous serpents in the sun.

There are living snakes in the swamp, yet more terrifying than the
viny serpents that circle the cypresses, and

The steel-jaw'd cayman from his grassy slope
Slides silent to the slimy, green abode
Which is his province.

Now and then a bit of sunny, poetic life touches upon the gloomy place,
for

See! a butterfly
That, travelling all the day, has counted climes
Only by flowers ...
Lights on the monster's brow.

An insecure perch for the radiant wanderer. The inhospitable saurian
dives with embarrassing suddenness and dips the airy visitor into the
"rank water." The butterfly finds no charm in the gloomy place and
flies away, which less ethereal wanderers might