I was suddenly seized with a panic
of fear and hid behind the stone wall.
"The very earliest recollection of my life is that of the 'hired
girl' throwing my cap down the steps, and as I stood there crying,
I looked up on the sidehill and saw Father with a bag slung across
his shoulders, striding across the furrows sowing grain. It was
a warm spring day, and as I looked hillward wistfully, I wished
Father would come down and punish the girl for throwing my cap
down the stairs--little insignificant things, but how they stick
in the memory!"
"I see myself as a little boy rocking this cradle," said Mr.
Burroughs, as he indicated the quaint blue wooden cradle (which I
had found in rummaging through the attic at the old home, and had
installed in Woodchuck Lodge), "or minding the baby while Mother
bakes or mends or spins. I hear her singing; I see Father pushing
on the work of the farm."
Most of the soil in Delaware County is decomposed old red sandstone.
Speaking of this soil Mr. Burroughs said, "In the spring when the
plough has turned the turf, I have seen the breasts of these broad
hills glow like the breasts of robins." He is fond of studying the
geology of the region now. I have seen him dig away the earth the
better to expose the old glacier tracings, and then explain to his
grandchildren how the glaciers ages ago made the marks on the rocks.
Pages:
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217