Page:Summer - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/159

Rh which the arches of the stone bridge are just visible, as in a vision. The mist is singularly bounded, collected here while there is none there, close up to the bridge on one side and none on the other, depending apparently on currents of air. There is a low crescent of northern light, and shooting stars from time to time. I paddle with a bough, the Nile boatman's oar, which is rightly pliant, and you do not labor much.

June 15, 1853. To Trillium Woods. Clover now in its prime. What more luxuriant than a clover field. The poorest soil that is covered with it looks incomparably fertile. This is perhaps the most characteristic feature of June, resounding with the hum of insects, such a blush on the fields. The rude health of the sorrel cheek has given place to the blush of clover. Painters are wont, in their pictures of Paradise, to strew the field too thickly with flowers. There should be moderation in all things. Though we love flowers we do not want them so thick under our feet that we cannot walk without treading on them. But a clover field in bloom is some excuse for them.

Here are many wild roses northeast of Trillium Woods. We are liable to underrate this flower, on account of its commonness. Is it not