Rural School Leaflet. 1063 



QUOTATIONS 



ROBIN 



" The drifts along the fences are settling. The brooks are brimming full. The 

 open fields are bare. A warm knoll here and there is tinged with green. A smell 

 of earth is in the air. A shadow darts through the apple tree: it is the robin! 



" Robin! You and I were lovers when yet my years were few. We roamed 

 the fields and hills together. We explored the brook that ran up into the great 

 dark woods and away over the edge of the world. We knew the old squirrel who 

 lived in the maple tree. We heard the first frog peep. We knew the minnows 

 that lay under the mossy log. We knew how the cowslips bloomed in the lushy 

 swale. We heard the first soft roll of thunder in the liquid April sky. 



" Robin! The fields are yonder! You are my better self. I care not for the 

 birds of paradise; for whether here or there, I shall listen for your carol in the 

 apple tree." — L. H. Bailey 



" A thousand voices whisper it is spring; 



Shy flowers start up to greet me on the way, 

 And homing birds preen their swift wings and sing 

 The praises of the friendly, lengthening day." 



— Louise Chandler Moulton 



" When Nature had made all her birds. 

 With no more cares to think on. 

 She gave a rippling laugh, and out 

 There flew a Bobolinkon." 



— Christopher P. Crunch 



" In the budding woods the April days, 



Faint with the fragrance from the life begun. 



Where the early fluttering sunbeam plays 



Like a prisoned creature of the sun. 



With sweet trill or plaintive note, 



Quick pulsation of a throat. 



With the life and light of Spring, 



There the birds of April sing." 



— Dora Read Goodale 



" The grass so little has to do — 

 A sphere of simple green. 

 With only butterflies to brood, 

 And bees to entertain. 



" And then to dwell in sovereign barns, 

 Arid dream the days away, — 

 The grass so little has to do,. 

 I wish I were the hay! " 



— Emily Dickinson 



