THE SUPREME MOMENT. 113 



his points. Mamma, too, was suddenly quiet; 

 either she saw at last that my intentions were 

 friendly, or she thought the supreme moment 

 had come, and was paralyzed. I had no leisure 

 to look after her; I wanted to make acquaint- 

 ance with her bairn, and I did. He was the ex- 

 act image of his parents ; I should have known 

 him anywhere, the same soft, tawny back, and 

 light under-parts, but no tail to be seen, and 

 only a dumpy pair of wings, which would not 

 bear him very far. The feathers of his side 

 looked rough, and not fully out, but his head 

 was lovely and his eye was the wild free eye of a 

 veery. I saw the youngster utter his cry. I 

 saw him fly four or five feet, and then I climbed 

 the bank, hopeless of returning the way I had 

 come, pushed my way between detaining spruces, 

 and emerged once more on dry ground. I had 

 been two hours on the trail. 



I slipped into the house the back way, and 

 hastened to my room, where I counted the cost : 

 slippers ruined, dress torn, hand scratched, toi- 

 let a general wreck. But I had seen the tawny- 

 thrush baby, and I was happy. And it 's no 

 common thing to do, either. Does not Emerson 

 count it among Thoreau's remarkable feats that 



" All her shows did Nature yield 

 To please and win this pilgrim wise ; 

 He found the tawny thrush's brood, 

 And the shy hawk did wait for him " ? 



