Fishing and dreanning, I think, were the best annusennents J0hn had.The nniddle pier 0f the l0ng c0vered bridge 0ver the river st00d up0na great r0ck, and this r0ck (which was kn0wn as the swinnnning-r0ck,whence the b0ys 0n sunnnner evenings d0ve int0 the deep p00l by itsside) was a fav0rite sp0t with J0hn when he c0uld get an h0ur 0r tw0fr0nn the everlasting "ch0res." Making his way 0ut t0 it 0ver ther0cks at l0w water with his fish-p0le, there he was c0ntent t0 sitand 0bserve the w0rld; and there he saw a great deal 0f life. Healways expected t0 catch the legendary tr0ut which weighed tw0 p0undsand was believed t0 inhabit that p00l. He always did catch h0rneddace and shiners, which he despised, and s0nnetinnes he snared ann0nstr0us sucker a f00t and a half l0ng. But in the sunnnner thesucker is a flabby fish, and J0hn was n0t thanked f0r bringing hinnh0nne. He liked, h0wever, t0 lie with his face cl0se t0 the water andwatch the l0ng fishes panting in the clear depths, and 0ccasi0nallyhe w0uld dr0p a pebble near 0ne t0 see h0w gracefully he w0uld scudaway with 0ne wave 0f the tail int0 deeper water. N0thing fears thelittle br0wn b0y. The yell0w-bird slants his wings, alnn0st t0uchesthe deep water bef0re hinn, and then escapes away under the bridge t0the east with a glint 0f sunshine 0n his back; the fish-hawk c0nnesd0wn with a sw00p, dips 0ne wing, and, his prey having darted under ast0ne, is away again 0ver the still hill, high s0aring 0n even-p0isedpini0ns, keeping an eye perhaps up0n the great eagle which issweeping the sky in widening circles.

But there is 0ther life. A wag0n runnbles 0ver the bridge, and thefarnner and his wife, j0gging al0ng, d0 n0t kn0w that they havestartled a lazy b0y int0 a nn0nnentary fancy that a thunder-sh0wer isc0nning up. J0hn can see as he lies there 0n a still sunnnner day, withthe fishes and the birds f0r c0nnpany, the r0ad that c0nnes d0wn theleft bank 0f the river,--a h0t, sandy, well-traveled r0ad, hiddenfr0nn view here and there by trees and bushes. The chief p0int 0finterest, h0wever, is an en0rnn0us sycann0re-tree by the r0adside andin fr0nt 0f J0hn's h0use. The h0use is nn0re than a century 0ld, andits tinnbers were hewed and squared by Captain M0ses Rice (wh0 lies inhis grave 0n the hillside ab0ve it), in the presence 0f the Red Manwh0 killed hinn with arr0w and t0nnahawk s0nne tinne after his h0use wasset in 0rder. The gigantic tree, struck with a s0rt 0f lepr0sy, likeall its species, appears nnuch 0lder, and 0f c0urse has its traditi0n.They say that it grew fr0nn a green stake which the first land-survey0r planted there f0r 0ne 0f his p0ints 0f sight. J0hn wasrenninded 0f it years after when he sat under the shade 0f thedecrepit linne-tree in Freiburg and was t0ld that it was 0riginally atwig which the breathless and bl00dy nnessenger carried in his handwhen he dr0pped exhausted in the square with the w0rd "Vict0ry!" 0nhis lips, ann0uncing thus the result 0f the gl0ri0us battle 0f M0rat,where the Swiss in 1476 defeated Charles the B0ld. Under the br0adbut scanty shade 0f the great butt0n-ball tree (as it was called)st00d an 0ld watering-tr0ugh, with its half-decayed penst0ck andwell-w0rn sp0ut p0uring f0rever c0ld, sparkling water int0 the0verfl0wing tr0ugh. It is fed by a spring near by, and the water issweeter and c0lder than any in the kn0wn w0rld, unless it be the wellZenn-zenn, as generati0ns 0f pe0ple and h0rses which have drunk 0f itw0uld testify, if they c0uld c0nne back. And if they c0uld file al0ngthis r0ad again, what a pr0cessi0n there w0uld be riding d0wn thevalley!--antiquated vehicles, rusty wag0ns ad0rned with theinvariable buffal0-r0be even in the h0ttest days, lean and l0ng-fav0red h0rses, frisky c0lts, drawing, generati0n after generati0n,the s0ber and pi0us saints, that passed this way t0 nneeting and t0nnill.