



Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Michael Zeug,
Lisa Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdp.net







Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been
left as in the original. No typographical corrections have been made.
Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. Words
in bold in the original are surrounded by =equal signs=. The words
"manoeuvres," "phoebe", and "phoebes" use an oe ligature in the
original.




    +--------------------------------------------------------------+
    |                     Books by Mr. Torrey.                     |
    |                                                              |
    |                                                              |
    |               BIRDS IN THE BUSH. 16mo, $1.25.                |
    |               A RAMBLER'S LEASE. 16mo, $1.25.                |
    |                                                              |
    |                                                              |
    |                   HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.                    |
    |                     BOSTON AND NEW YORK.                     |
    |                                                              |
    +--------------------------------------------------------------+




                          A RAMBLER'S LEASE


                                  BY

                           BRADFORD TORREY


     I have known many laboring men that have got good estates in
     this valley.--BUNYAN

     Sunbeams, shadows, butterflies, and birds.--WORDSWORTH


                         BOSTON AND NEW YORK
                    HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
                    The Riverside Press, Cambridge
                                 1892




                           Copyright, 1889,
                         BY BRADFORD TORREY.

                        _All rights reserved._


          _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._
           Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.




PREFATORY NOTE.


The writer of this little book has found so much pleasure in other men's
woods and fields that he has come to look upon himself as in some sort
the owner of them. Their lawful possessors will not begrudge him this
feeling, he believes, nor take it amiss if he assumes, even in this
public way, to hold _a rambler's lease_ of their property. Should it
please them to do so, they may accept the papers herein contained as a
kind of return, the best he knows how to offer, for the many favors,
alike unproffered and unasked, which he has received at their hands. His
private opinion is that the world belongs to those who enjoy it; and
taking this view of the matter, he cannot help thinking that some of
his more prosperous neighbors would do well, in legal phrase, to perfect
their titles. He would gladly be of service to them in this regard.




CONTENTS.


                                              PAGE
     MY REAL ESTATE                              1

     A WOODLAND INTIMATE                        22

     AN OLD ROAD                                45

     CONFESSIONS OF A BIRD'S-NEST HUNTER        70

     A GREEN MOUNTAIN CORN-FIELD                99

     BEHIND THE EYE                            114

     A NOVEMBER CHRONICLE                      121

     NEW ENGLAND WINTER                        140

     A MOUNTAIN-SIDE RAMBLE                    164

     A PITCH-PINE MEDITATION                   182

     ESOTERIC PERIPATETICISM                   189

     BUTTERFLY PSYCHOLOGY                      206

     BASHFUL DRUMMERS                          214




A RAMBLER'S LEASE.




MY REAL ESTATE.

     Yet some did think that he had little business here.--WORDSWORTH.


Every autumn the town of W---- sends me a tax-bill, a kindly remembrance
for which I never fail of feeling grateful. It is pleasant to know that
after all these years there still remains one man in the old town who
cherishes my memory,--though it be only "this publican." Besides, to
speak frankly, there is a measure of satisfaction in being reminded now
and then of my dignity as a landed proprietor. One may be never so rich
in stocks and bonds, government consols and what not, but, acceptable as
such "securities" are, they are after all not quite the same as a
section of the solid globe itself. True, this species of what we may
call astronomic or planetary property will sometimes prove
comparatively unremunerative. Here in New England (I know not what may
be true elsewhere) there is a class of people whom it is common to hear
gossiped about compassionately as "land poor." But, however scanty the
income to be derived from it, a landed investment is at least
substantial. It will never fail its possessor entirely. If it starve
him, it will offer him a grave. It has the prime quality of permanence.
At the very worst, it will last