PREFACE. During the past quarter of a century, it has been a pleasant pastime for me to obey the dictates of my feelings and inscribe them upon paper. The present volume is a collection of these vagrant pastimes, some of which have wandered far, while others have never before appeared to any eye save the writers. To call them home, introduce them to each other, and properly house them, seems a parental duty. If in them there is a thought that shall inspire others of my profession to feel the dignity and responsibility of the calling, their publication will not have been in vain. The intent being good, the fruit cannot be evil. - DEDICATION. TO THE MEXORY OF XY MOTHER, WHOSE DEVOTION. ENERGY, Ah PERSEVEPAXCE LED ME TO DRINK AT THE FOUNTAIK OF r KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH, UXTIL I SAW BEAUTY THEREIX, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. The true end of life is to elevate man In body, in mind, and in spirit, That here he may serve some beneficent plan, Then a mansion in heaven inherit. INDEX . PAGE . A Beacon Light .................................................. 129 A Boy ............................................................ 81 A Lesson from Nature .......................................... 189 All Things are Second. handed .................................. 212 None ............................................................. 140 Amityville ...................................................... 215 An Open Book ................................................... 175 A Picture ........................................................ 200 Arbor Day Tribute .............................................. 84 Artist Nature .................................................... 119 Boding Snow ..................................................... 174 Buttercups and Daisies ......................................... 87 Communion with Nature ........................................ 96 Courage and Faith .............................................. 26 Discontent ...................................................... 132 Drifting Away ................................................... 158 Duty Done ....................................................... 42 Ere and at my Call .............................................. 173 Evil Habits ......................... .. .......................... 66 Faces I Read .................................................... 214 Fact versus Form ............................................... 29 Fidelity ......................................................... 219 Finis ............................................................ 231 Fragments ...................................................... 127 Good Habits ..................................................... 63 Heartstrings .................................................... 147 Important Moments ............................................ 166 Incompetence ................................................... 27 Indulgence ...................................................... 61 Interest ......................................................... 31 Invocation to the Muse ............................ . ............ 9 Kindred Spirits .................................................. 160 Lake George. N . Y ............................................... 106 Liberty .............. ......................................... 164 Lies .............................................................. 145 Lifes Emergencies .............................................. 68 PAGE . ............................................ d. M. The Love .. T .. h .. e . D .. e . p .. a . r . te .. d . ............................................ Nany ............... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.