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Page 51:-
and shrubbery to the right are the entrance to Lady
Richardson's cottage; and there the regular road ends. The
car can go about a mile further along the farm tracks in the
valley, through the meadows which yield a coarse hay, and
near the stream which is tufted with alders. At the farm
house where the car stops, the people will shew the stranger
the way he must go,- past the plantation, and up the hill
side, where he will find the track that will guide him up to
the waterfall,- the foaming cataract, which is seen all over
the valley, and is called Sour Milk Ghyll Force. The water
and the track together will show him the way to the tarn,
which is the source of the stream. Up and on he goes, over
rock and through wet moss, with long stretches of dry turf
and purple heather; and at last, when he is heated and
breathless, the dark cool recess opens in which lies
Easedale Tarn. Perhaps there is an angler standing besides
the great boulder on the brink. Perhaps there is a shepherd
lying among the ferns. But more probably the stranger finds
himself perfectly alone. There is perhaps nothing in natural
scenery which conveys such an impression of stillness as
tarns which lie under precipices: and here the rocks sweep
down to the brink almost round the entire margin. For hours
together the deep shadows move only like the gnomon of the
sundial; and, when movement occurs, it is not such as
disturbs the sense of repose;- the dimple made by a restless
fish or fly, or the gentle flow of water in or out; or the
wild drake and his brood, paddling so quietly as not to
break up the mirror, or the reflection of some touch of
sunlight, or passing shadow.
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