WHENEVER opportunity occurs I take an outing, and the following pages are the outcome of two years of rambling. Whether the main incident of these days out of doors proves grave or gay matters little, if it recalls some pleasant adventure to graybeard readers or spurs the ambition of my youthful friends. Succeeding in this, I am well rewarded.

When out, on pleasure bent, it is not to be supposed that life's shady side will never be turned towards you. Happily, though, the tragedies are one-act, as a rule, while the comedies scarcely know an ending. Even sunshine, however, can be too continuous, and the longest day of summer is not necessarily the jolliest To be many-sided ourselves, we must know all that Nature has to tell. With the sky only above us, we are among quickly-shifting scenes and should be blind to none.

Sunshine and clouds tell the whole story; but without the flight of the shadow over the landscape, without hearing the scream of the victim as well as the exultant cry of the victor, we can never know the world aright, — never keep in touch with Nature.

C. C. A.