sue mnu i«ocfeinfl iSttU 135 



heaven upon my astonished ear. Up and 

 down the scale he raced in mad ecstasy, 

 almost tearing his little heart out in his 

 vain attempt to express all that life, and 

 light, and breath of morning were to him. 

 It made me feel ashamed of my own shal- 

 lowness, and wonder if there were not 

 after all a world of joy in my very nostrils 

 that I was blindly unconscious of. 



When gay Robert Lincoln ceased it 

 was as though a lamp of dazzling bright- 

 ness had been removed from a scene 

 dearly loved, and all was darkness. 



I was too much entranced by this bird 

 chorus from the clump of alder to con- 

 sider its origin, but listened in stupid 

 silence, like a spellbound child. 



What was that ! Could it be that here 

 in broad daylight, the soft and unutterable 

 evening prayer of the veery was falling 

 in notes as pure as dew drops or the tears 



