The Rambles of an Idler 



parlor ! Yet how unlike, for there was meaning 

 in what the birds uttered. Is it not written, "A 

 bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that 

 which hath wings shall tell the matter!" 



What matter? What can it be now but the 

 message from April ? What would she have us 

 know! He is bold, indeed, who would attempt 

 to interpret what the wild bird says, but that he 

 is Spring's messenger, there can be little doubt. 

 Mankind has presumed to interpret every phase 

 of Nature until not to do so becomes painful to 

 him. This presumption is, of course, closely 

 akin to sin, but deprive us of our pleasant pec- 

 cadilloes, and there is very little left. I took 

 the blackbirds' message as a marching order, 

 and forthwith hurried to the meadows. 



The little crepitating frogs were rattling and 

 " peep ing " until the air positively trembled, and 

 the deeper toned voice of the leopard frog was 

 not readily detected; yet had the former, pres- 

 ent in myriads, been silent, the croaking of 

 larger frogs would, by virtue of the volume of 

 sound, have attracted instant attention. We 

 marvel at the volume of sound, but would be 



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