Wandering On Through Notches Which The Streams Had Made, By The
Side And Over The Brows Of Hoar Hills And Mountains, Across The
Stumpy, Rocky, Forested, And Bepastured Country, We At Length
Crossed On Prostrate Trees Over The Amonoosuck, And Breathed The
Free Air Of Unappropriated Land.
Thus, in fair days as well as
foul, we had traced up the river to which our native stream
Is a
tributary, until from Merrimack it became the Pemigewasset that
leaped by our side, and when we had passed its fountain-head, the
Wild Amonoosuck, whose puny channel was crossed at a stride,
guiding us toward its distant source among the mountains, and at
length, without its guidance, we were enabled to reach the summit
of ^Agiocochook^.
- - - - - - - -
"Sweet days, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky,
Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to-night,
For thou must die."
^Herbert^.
When we returned to Hooksett, a week afterward, the melon man, in
whose corn-barn we had hung our tent and buffaloes and other
things to dry, was already picking his hops, with many women and
children to help him. We bought one watermelon, the largest in
his patch, to carry with us for ballast. It was Nathan's, which
he might sell if he wished, having been conveyed to him in the
green state, and owned daily by his eyes. After due consultation
with "Father," the bargain was concluded, - we to buy it at a
venture on the vine, green or ripe, our risk, and pay "what the
gentlemen pleased." It proved to be ripe; for we had had honest
experience in selecting this fruit.
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