470 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Does not even this simple line, 



"A single crow a single caw lets fall.^' 



Suggest the early autumn day in all its peace and beauty? 



Not willing at any time to slight his favorite of all his feathered 

 friends he adds, 



"Meanwhile that devil-may-care, the bobolink, 

 Remembering duty in mid quaver stops, 



Just ere he sweeps o'er rapture's tremulous brink, 

 And twixt the mirrows most demurely drops, 



A decorous bird of business, who provides 



For his brown mate and fledglings six besides, 



And looks from right to left, a farmer mid his crops." 



Nor is the picture yet complete without the dallying plough boy. 



"Who, with each sense shut fast except the eye. 

 Creeps close and scares the jay he hoped to shoot." 



The poet no more than the fruit grower is averse to showing his 

 partiality for a particular bird, nor does he hesitate to make special men- 

 tion of the birds he loves. With a few exceptions each fluttering beauty 

 has a friend who loves him best, to whom he sings his sweetest songs 

 and who in return, pens the happiest thoughts when he is the subject. 



First of all in the springtime comes the robin, called "the forerunner 

 of the spring" the same robin-red-breast who 



" Sings so sweetly in the falling of the year" 



and with its glad, clear carol bids good cheer to all the fresh young life 

 about him. There is a pretty story told in rhyme by Whittier which 

 tells that this merciful bird carries dew in its tiny bill to drop on the sad 

 souls tortued in the "fiery-pit." 



"You can see the marks on his red-breast still, 



Of the fires that scorch as he drops it in." 

 Then the poet, always ready to draw a lesson for himself adds: 



" Each good thought is a drop wherewith 

 To cool and lessen the fire of hell." 



Only a few days later comes the bluebird and begins "prophesying 

 spring," his mellow, sweet toned warble making him a general favorite 

 in the United States. He is accused of being vain of the rich sky-blue 

 coat which he wears, but I think he is prouder of the six pale blue eggs 

 which his busy little wife cares for so tenderly. 



