Song Birds and Water Fowl 
the lapse of many years, spent in the peace- 
ful labors of the farm, when once he hears that 
old familiar martial strain, which recalls the 
tumult of the battle, feels the old tingle in - 
his blood, becomes impetuous as of yore, and 
dashes off in answer to the call. And certainly, 
if one can be profoundly moved by the resist- 
less power the ocean manifests upon a balmy 
summer’s day, what an added sweep of majesty 
he will find in winter, when the blackened, 
white-tipped waves are hurled upon the frozen 
beach, and break against the ice-girt rocks! 
At such a time the savage monster looks fasci- 
natingly merciless; and while it has the ser- 
pent’s charm, repellent in its snaky winsome- 
ness, it kindles all one’s admiration by its 
spirit of immensity and unconquerableness—a 
grandeur that is royal and sublime above all 
other potencies in nature. Old ocean, envel- 
oping the earth in prehistoric times, was a 
magnificent premonition of the forthcoming 
restless tide of human life, mankind’s broad 
shadow, cast before, the formless spirit of hu- 
manity inembryo. And, through all time, it 
shows itself the boundless reflex of a mighty 
soul in every phase and hue of its emotion, as 
though the speechless depths of Nature’s heart 
164 
