136 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



with growth; the pines already hid the 

 walls, and cattle tracks were widened 

 into paths and wound among young 

 maples, elms, and beeches. Then 

 there grew in me a love that made the 

 four garden walls seem like the boun- 

 daries of the world. 



Nothing was troubled but to free it 

 from the oppression of some other 

 thing. The sparrow kept his bush, 

 and between him and the hawk- 

 headsman a hand was raised. The 

 wood thrush, finding his haunts un- 

 touched, but that his enemies, the 

 black snakes, might no longer boldly 

 engulf his nestlings, raised his clear 

 voice and sang " O Jubilate Deo ! " 

 The gardener who planted no longer 

 watches the bird's flight, but the gar- 

 den still tells its story. Will you 

 come in? The gate is never closed 

 except to violence. 



