Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER VI.

THE midsummer holidays had now arrived, and the two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Gracelove, with buoyant hearts and rejoicing spirits, had returned to their lovely home on the romantic shores of Derwent, or as it is not unfrefrequently called, Keswick Lake. Happy days! ere the cares, and sorrows, and anxieties of life, have touched the youthful bosom and robbed it of its freshness! Cherished hours of schoolboy happiness! when, the half-year's task being ended, the busy fancy revels in the delights of home and innocent pleasure;-luxuriates in the bright visions of the future, ere hope becomes blighted by the chilling realities of life, and its cheering sunshine shadowed over by the clouds and tempests of this chequered world!

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Pure and exhilarating were the feelings with which Edmund and Jasper hailed the festive season. Nor were their anxious and indulgent parents less gratified to see their children happy around them, nor less inclined to join in their recreations, and administer to their amusements, in all the fondness of parental affection. Parties of pleasure were planned for sailing on the lake, and visiting the numerous objects of curiosity and interest with which the neighbouring scenes abounded. Different days were appropriated, in perspective, to as many varied excursions; to rambles around the banks of their own beautiful lake, as well as to those in the vicinity which filled up the bright panorama of this enchanting district. Mountains were to be ascended, valleys to be explored, waterfalls admired, leadmines examined; rocks, caves, torrents, with all the intricacies and mazes of a mountain wilderness, were to be visited in successive order.

On the third morning after the arrival of the two young gentlemen at dulce domum, the boat belonging to the family was ordered to be in readiness, and two expert rowers, selected from the farming establishment of Mr. Gracelove, were called

from their rural occupations in the field to ply the oar instead of guiding the plough; an exchange of labour which they always hailed with evident satisfaction.

After despatching an early breakfast, the joyous party, consisting of papa and mamma, Edmund, Jasper, Laura, and Maria, crossed the lawn to the water's edge, and with high anticipations of the coming pleasure stepped at once into the boat. Mr. Gracelove having taken his seat at the helm, steered her course direct to the Vicar's, or Derwent Isle, one of the four beautiful islands that adorn and diversify the surface of this queen of the northern lakes.

Nothing could surpass the fineness of the day. The sun shone forth from a clear bright sky, chequered only by a few light fleecy clouds which lent an additional charm to the landscape, as every observant traveller through a mountainous region must have frequently remarked. The broad masses of shade that are occasionally thrown on the sides of the mountains, contrasting and mingling with the sunshine that rests upon them; the singular and almost mysterious forms they sometimes assume, while creeping along the rugged acclivities, as if they were disembodied beings of another world, are objects of interesting contemplation to the lovers of nature. If, at the same time, the wind should be high, the rapidity with which these shadowy reflections sweep across the barren heights, and the sudden changes and combinations into which they are cast-light and shade in strange variety succeeding each other, as it were, in flashes,-produce on the mind an emotion of surprise and admiration.

But the boat has now reached the beautiful banks of "Derwent Isle," the one which lies nearest to the town of Keswick. It rises with graceful elevation from the water, containing about six acres of ground, and has been cultivated with much care and taste under the judicious superintendence of the late

G

[graphic][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »