182 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



blue sky, the bright water and the green fields satisfy." With these words 

 my eyes closed, and the sweet goddess, sleep, allured me into her own chosen 

 realm —the mystical dreamland. She transported me over sea and land to a 

 celestial island, a new world. " In this home," she says, " you are to be re- 

 mote from care, master of yourself — no sorrow or deformity shall ever enter 

 here, for this is a world of happiness, truth, love and beauty." Never before 

 had we seen Nature's dear face so beautiful — never before known such holy 

 rest and peace. Weeks passed thus, but at last a longing for something 

 more was felt. We inquired after our feathered songsters, the birds, but no 

 one had ever heard of such strange bright-colored singing animals as we de- 

 scribed, that had wings like tins that could swim in the air. Alas! alas! the 

 charm was now broken for us forever. We could be happy in no home — 

 not even Heaven itself — where the singing of birds was unknown, and we 

 implored our good genii to take us back again to our Wisconsin home of 

 summer's heat and winter's cold. As we neared our native land we discov- 

 ered spring approaching. In the far dim distance, on the Pacific slope, over 

 Alaska's borders, the western prairies, eastern mountain tojDS and meadow 

 lands, we heard millions of voices which were recognized as those of the 

 robin— the same dear old robin redbreast song that delighted us so much 

 in childhood— that will delight us ever while we live. The sweets of sum- 

 mer are compressed in that old song, and it kindles anew the fires of youth. 

 This sweet song has been sung for ages, and, perhaps, will be sung for all 

 time. Who can tell ? Thoreau says : " I heard a robin in the distance, the 

 first I had heard for many a thousand years, methought, whose notes I shall 

 not forget for many a thousand- more." 



When I awoke-from this eventful dream I could but exclaim, what would 

 summer be without birds! What if the birds should refuse or forget to obey 

 Nature's calling for a year and pass us by! How much of the cheer, glad- 

 ness and beauty of summer would be gone ! Let us awaken our slumbering 

 faculties to the contemplation of the blessings, joys and beauties surrounding 

 us. Let lis enjoy the flowers of the field and the birds of the woods ; seek to 

 know much of their habits, haunts and language, for the birds' language is 

 as easily learned as that of the little child's, for every want is expressed by 

 cry, song or chirp. 



A true bird lover, by constant observation, will with little difficulty learn 

 to name the great majority of our birds, for each class has its own individu- 

 ality. The flight, the walk, the shape of the bill, feet and wings, enable the 

 student to distinguish and name them. It is a rare delight to know and 

 properly name the birds as they appear among us in the sj^ring. 



We who are interested i^i ornithology, in botany, and in horticulture, 

 should insist upon having natural history introduced into our schools. The 

 young in our primary schools should be taught to name the animals and 

 flowers, and to know them intimately in their homes, to name the birds of 

 the air, and upon turning over the soil to know of what it is composed, and 

 able to tell at a glance whether the rocks dug out of it were formed by the 

 action of fire or water; this is giving to the child a glorious education, good 



