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    The town of Northampton , with its cluster of white houses ^ peeps out from a mass of dark foliage beyond , and though two or three miles distant , you imagine that you might fling a stone into it .

    The lofty heig ht of Saddle Mountain is dimly seen far off in the north-west . Monadnock and other eminences appear in the north and east . The whole country , except the alluvial meadows of the Connecticut , appears one great forest , with a town and small patches of cultivated land here and there .

    I left Northampton on foot , and proceeded westward . The farmers use windmills for scarecrows ; Don Quixote would not have fought them , as they are too small to pass for giants . He would have been more struck with the appearance of a field newly cleared of wood , which ,, being full of the stumps of enormous trees , black with fire , might easily be taken for the grave yard of

    the Anakim . Putting up for the night at the small inn of an obscure village , I found a notable Bostonian there who had come to enjoy trout-fishing . It was as good as drink to hear the

    bumpkins about the tavern guessing who this magnifico could be ; finally they set him down for an itinerant singing-master . I never was fond of trout-fishing , though books have been written to prove it agreeable . Nor , indeed , do I admire fishing of any sort . Were there a sea-serpent or so to catch now and then , I might lend a hand without minding a wet foot . But to

    fish for trout—excuse me . Standing for hours mid-leg deep in water for sport , and setting your wits against a little minnow , I know of nothing to which 1 can compare it except a spectacle which the streets of Paris often exhibit . There you may see , of a cold December evening , a crowd of people standing in a torrent of rain and in the midst of a dirty puddle , just to listen to the scraping of a fiddle . The amusement seems to me somewhat

    negative . ' Trouts ? ' said the landlord , ' yes , there are trouts here as (thick as moschetoes . I'll catch you a basket full in fifteen minutes , —big ones too ! ' Now , ' said another fellow , I like the small ones best , because you see , when they are fried , you can take them up by the tail and down with them so . I recommenced my journey by day-break toward the Hoosac mountains . The wood-thrushes were filling the groves with the sweetest melody I ever heard . This bird loves the solitude of the forest ; you never find him in gardens or cultivated fields , or about houses ; bvit the deepest and darkest recesses of the woods are his favourite abode . Here , amidst the dim twilight which the foliage of a thousand gigantic oaks creates around you , the full-toned , organ-like notes of this bird will strike your ear with impressive power , sweet and solemn . The effect is great

    and peculiar . lis like evening music in a cathedral . * Well , neighbour / said I to a countryman going to his field , ' can you tell me what o ' clock it is V- —A real Yankee answer .

    Untitled Article

    American Sketches 9 &

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1835, page 95, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2642/page/15/