As I looked out upon this lovely morning, I did not, I acknowledge it,
regret the absence of my excellent though boisterous companions; for
there was something which I cannot define in the deep stillness, in the
sweet harmonious quiet of the whole scene before me, that disposed my
spirit to meditation far more than to mirth; the very smoke which rose
from the low chimneys of the Teachmans' colony--not surging to and fro,
obedient to the fickle winds--but soaring straight, tall, unbroken,
upward, like Corinthian columns, each with its curled capital--seemed to
invite the soul of the spectator to mount with it toward the sunny
heavens.
By-and-by I strayed downward to the beach, a narrow strip of silvery
sand and variegated pebbles, and stood there long, silently watching the
unknown sports, the seemingly--to us at least--unmeaning movements, and
strange groupings of the small fry, which darted to and fro in the clear
shallows within two yards of my feet; or marking the brief circling
ripples, wrought by the morning swallow's wing, and momently subsiding
into the wonted rest of the calm lake.
How long I stood there musing I know not, for I had fallen into a train
of thought so deep that I was utterly unconscious of everything around
me, when I was suddenly aroused from my reverie by the quick dash of
oars, and by a volley of some seven barrels discharged in quick
succession.
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