Henry van Dyke 
Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness 

"There's no music like a little river's. It plays the same tune (and that's the favorite) over and over again, and yet does not weary of it like men fiddlers. It takes the mind out of doors; and though we should be grateful for good houses, there is, after all, no house like God's out of doors. And lastly, sir, it quiets a man down like saying his prayers." — Robert Louis Stevenson


Contents

Prelude — Little rivers — A leaf of spearmint — Ampersand — A handful of heather — The ristigouche from a horse-yacht — Alpenrosen and goat's milk — Au large — Trout-fishing in the Traun — At the sign of the balsam bough — A song after sundown — The wood-notes of the veery.