Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

38. to the other side – they replied that it was “being done” and that they intended doing it, a reply that was rather cryptic – Another machine just then passed us, and we decided to follow them. A short rough ride brought us to the stream, and we saw that the only way across was by fording explaining our informant’s remark. Going thru the running water delighted the children, and us no less.

The Zoar Valley a strange combination of sheer wild beauty, with desolate abandoned houses places at intervals. After we had gone some distance we were electrified by the appearance of three wild deer a doe & two fawns – the “thrill of a life-time,” the first any of us had seen – what beautiful graceful creatures, and how effortlessly they went! That anyone could shoot them seems monstrous.

One farm was not deserted. In a field adjoining the barns was a large herd of spotted cattle behind them a large barren hill studded with cow-cropped haries, and back of it a great mass of cumulus clouds, all bathed in mellow late afternoon sunlight, there was a feeling of vast