Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy | Page 2

after the Cows
The Reflective Stag

The Mirage
Fata Morgana
The Spectre of the Brocken
A Narrow Street in Pompeii
A Cleared Street in Pompeii
The Atrium in the House of Pansa
Ornaments from Pompeii
A Pompeiian Bakery
The Amphitheatre of Pompeii
The Coachman
The Grand Geyser
The Artificial Geyser
A Giant Puff-ball
Tickled by a Straw
The Will-o'-the-Wisp
The Oak Tree
The Sea-Side
The Vessels on Shore
The Sick Pike
The Blossoms

Ice-Blossoms
Ice-Flowers
Ancient Bead
Venetian Bottle
German Drinking-Glass
Glass Jug
Making Bottles
Venetian Goblet
Modern Goblets
The Queen's Mirror
Bohemian Goblet
French Flagon
The Portland Vase
The Strange Lady
Carl and the Duke
The Dominie
Wrens' Nests
Orioles' Nest
Owl's Nests
Flamingoes' Nests

The little Grebe's Nest
The Ostrich-Nest
The Stork's Nest
A Fish's Nest
Throwing the Boomerang
The Way the Boomerang Goes

PREFACE
Come along, boys and girls! We are off on our rambles. But please do
not ask me where we are going. It would delay us very much if I should
postpone our start until I had drawn you a map of the route, with all the
stopping-places set down.
We have far to go, and a great many things to see, and it may be that
some of you will be very tired before we get through.
If so, I shall be sorry; but it will be a comfort to think that none of us
need go any farther than we choose.
There will be considerable variety in our rambles. We shall walk about
familiar places, and we shall explore streets and houses that have been
buried for centuries. We shall go down deep into the earth, and we shall
float in a balloon, high up into the air. We shall see many beasts of the
forest; some that are bloody and cruel, and others that are gentle and
wise. We will meet with birds, fishes, grand old buildings, fleas, vast
woods, bugs, mummies, snakes, tight-rope dancers, gorillas,
will-o'-the-wisps, beautiful blossoms, boomerangs, oceans, birds' nests,
and I cannot tell you what all besides. We will also have some
adventures, hear some stories, and have a peep at a fairy or two before
we are done.

I shall not, however, be able to go with you everywhere. When you are
enjoying a "Bird Chat;" "Buying the Mirror;" learning when "We must
not Believe our Eyes;" visiting "A City under the Ground;" hearing of
"The Coachman's" troubles; sitting under "The Oak-tree;" finding out
wonderful things "About Glass;" watching what happens when
"School's Out;" or following the fortunes of "Carl," your guide will be a
lady, and I think that you will all agree that she knows very well where
she ought to go, and how to get there. The rest of the time you will be
with me.
And now, having talked enough, suppose we start.

WINTER IN THE WOODS
[Illustration]
What can be more delightful, to a boy of spirit, than a day in the woods
when there has been a good snow! If he also happens to have a good
friend or two, and some good dogs (who are just as likely to be friends
as his boy-companions), he ought to be much happier than an ordinary
king. A forest is a fine place at any time, but when the ground is well
covered with snow--especially if there is a hard crust upon it--the
woods seem to possess a peculiar charm. You can go anywhere then.
In the summer, the thick undergrowth, the intertwining vines, and the
heavy lower branches of the trees, make it difficult even to see into the
dark recesses of the forest. But in the winter all is open. The low wet
places, the deep holes, the rotten bogs, everything on the ground that is
in the way of a good run and a jump, is covered up. You do not walk a
hundred yards under the bare branches of the trees before up starts a
rabbit, or a hare, if you would rather call him by his right name,--and
away go the dogs, and away you go--all of you tearing along at the top
of your speed!
But poor Bunny has a small chance, when a hard snow is on the ground.
His hiding-places are all covered up, and before he knows it the dogs

have caught him, and your mother will have stewed rabbit for supper. It
seems a hard fate for the poor little fellow, but he was born partly for
that purpose.
When you have caught your rabbit, and come back to where the men
are cutting wood, you will be just as proud to tell the boy who is cutting
up the branches all about your splendid hunt, as if you had chased and
killed a stag.
"There's where we started him!" you will cry, "and away