AN EASTER MORNING. 1 15 



PART II. THE SUNRISE. 



The great, level marshes reached away 'till lost in the 

 morning mist. The air was thrilled with cold, and the 

 bracing scent from the sea. The early beams struggled 

 frozen through the haze, and I hastily pursued my way 

 along the shore of a marsh creek, watching, as I hurried, 

 the snowy Gulls at their dazvn flying. In a cove a King- 

 fisher rattled by me in the gray, and a party of Mergansers 

 splashed the cold water into foam, gave a few startled 

 "quarks," and bent their sturdy flight to unsequestered 

 shallows far away. From the meadows came the pipe of 

 Robins, and the singing of the Sparrow hordes, while in a 

 distant grove a large flock of Grackles chattered loudly to 

 the morning. They seemed to be having a noisy debate. 

 Suddenly a rosy edge began to appear above the horizon, 

 and I ran to gain an advantageous height for a view of the 

 scene to come. From the long bridge which runs over 

 the bay to the beach, I watched the sun rise. Higher and 

 higher rose the large red ball, 'till the lowest point on its 

 circumference rested on the far away sea line. Then it 

 swung clear of the great ocean and began in earnest its 

 climb into the heaven. The huge orb did not seem real. 

 Was this, indeed, the sun — the yellow brilliancy in the 

 skies of daytime, that no man ran face for long ? It was, 

 for, though my eyes could rest untroubled upon its car- 

 mine face, it gradually, as it ascended, grew smaller, 

 brighter and lighter, and more natural, 'till I turned from 

 it to other features, enjoying its warmth. Sheldrakes 

 (Mergansers) sped over the bay in small groups, consisting 

 in every case of the brownish females and the finely crest- 

 ed males. Crows trooped to the beach for their breakfast 

 of fish, and white-bellied Swallows high in the air danced 

 in sparkling floods of morning light. A proud Fish-hawk 

 swung over the tide for miles without a wing-beat. In his 

 strong talons he held a finny prey, and after w^atching it 

 out of sight, I went back to my grove to follow the exam- 

 ple of all the wild creatures — get my breakfast. 



Cambridge, Mass. 



