Where, in obedience to her mandate, luxurious hotels now swarm with the gay butterflies of her own creation, once was heard but the low hum of insect life, the joyous carol of forest songsters, or the fearful howl of its wild wanderers. One vast, glorious temple of nature, with little bands of worshippers scattered here and there through the deep-sounding aisles, or clustered beneath the noble domes, were the White Mountains, ere the world rushed into that pure sanctury, and tinctured with its own spirit those who bowed to nature's God.

At the time of which we write, the fame of their unequalled scenery, of the cool, invigorating, life-restoring air which filled their little villages with a hardy race, had reached but few ears in fashionable society, and awakened no response, save the spirit of adventure in here and there a breast.

Wearied with the beaten track in which, for years, he had followed his mother and sister, and satiated with the follies that beset it, Walter Everson hailed with joy the thought of a summer exploration into those mountain wildernesses, as a bright alternative to the usual tedious season at Saratoga. Possessing a highly cultivated mind, a quick, appreciative intellect, and withal inclined to taciturnity and moodiness, the adventure promised him peculiar gratification. The consternation his sudden absence might occasion to certain designing mothers, who had been anxiously awaiting his attainment to majority and a large fortune, he smilingly imagined, as, with a brief announcement of his equestrian

THE COUNTRY DOCTOR.

13

trip, he left his friends to solve the mystery as best they could.

A sultry summer sun had, for successive days, poured its burning rays into every penetrable nook and dell, till the whole earth seemed parching under its stroke; yet, in the little village around which nature so lovingly threw its protecting arms, a cool, delicious breeze swept through the valley, around the mountain sides, and into every open hamlet where busy hands were plying their evening tasks. Gently it fanned the silvery locks of the humble pastor, as, in meditation deep, he bent over the sacred page, selecting therefrom precious sustenance for the souls of his beloved flock. More roughly it seized upon the folds of the weekly newspaper, with which good worthy Dr. Jepson was regaling himself in the porch of his front-door, and which, with a decided flap, saluted his cheek.

"Gim-i-ni!" he exclaimed, with a sneeze, "I'm catching cold, certain ;" and drawing from his capacious pocket a red bandanna, he tied it carefully over his smooth, bald pate, and settling himself back, resumed his pleasant occupation.

Timid steps approached, but the good Doctor's thoughts were at that moment far away, roaming in the world without. Nearer they came, yet still he heeded them not; then a gentle pull at his coat-sleeve, and yet his abstraction continued; now a more violent twitch, accompanied with a strange ejaculation, and the Doctor is on his feet in a moment.

"Gim-i-ni!" he cried, gazing at the figure before him, "what devil's imp are you?"

"Mammy wants ye," was the only reply.

"Mammy! whom do you honor with that title ?" said he, scanning more curiously the wild-looking child; "what's your name ?”

"Wild Nell."

"Gim-i-ni! then you're the strange creature I've heard so much about—can climb a tree like a squirrel, and live on nuts, too; let's see you go up that one now." In a moment the child was looking down exultingly from the branches above his head.

"Well, that beats all that ever I see! come down here, you witch, you wizard, or whatever you are; did you say Crazy Esther wants to see me-precious child of your mother-that you are."

"Mammy wants ye, but I hate ye," cried the child, assuming a defiant attitude, while her black eyes glistened with anger; "you called me names, you did."

"Poor child! so I did," replied the Doctor, laughing heartily; "how could I help calling such a mongrel specimen of humanity a wizard? But come now, tell me what you want, and be off with those fiery eyes of yours. Is your mammy, as you call her, sick ?"

"No," replied the child, with a contemptuous toss of her head," she an't never sick; some body's fell down on a horse, and she wants ye, that's all ;" and, with a leap and a bound, the strange little being was hastening away.