A little distance along the edges of the woods, with an occasional detour of the path into the shades of the forest, brings one to the spring.

A great, rudely-cut stone marks the place, and makes a kind of background for the cool, limpid pool into which a few leaves fall from the woods, but which belongs to the open sky and fields.

There is certainly no more gentle, reposeful scene than this; so secluded from the dust and whirl of cities and thoroughfares, and yet so near to ancient homes, so sweet and life-giving in its service to them, so often and so eagerly sought at all seasons and by men of all conditions.

Here oftenest come the restless feet of children, and their shouts are almost the only sounds that ever break this solitude.
To me there is something inexpressibly sweet and refreshing in the familiar and yet unfailing loveliness of this place.

The fields are always peaceful, and the slow motions of the cattle grouped here and there under the shadows of solitary trees, or of the sheep browsing in long, irregular lines across the further meadows, give the landscape that touch of pastoral life which unites us with Nature in the oldest and most homelike relations.