Intimations. 29 



when they have been found ? Is not one flower 

 and one song enough ? In such a matter, having 

 one swallow, you can make the summer. The 

 merit of this, the last day of February, is that it is 

 inexpressibly dismal. A chilling northeast storm 

 prevails. The woods moan ; the marsh is wrapped 

 in fog; over the river race the white-capped 

 waves ; the scream of the gulls and cry of despair- 

 ing crows cause me to shudder, but for a moment. 

 Safe by a lordly oak, I can laugh at the storm, and 

 did laugh when, in its sheltered nook, a song- 

 sparrow saw or felt or heard the promise of spring- 

 tide's milder sway, and sang his sweetest of sweet 

 summer songs. 



Not a creature of all the varied forms of wild 

 life but may have its own almanac and unwritten 

 rules of forecasting the weather. Many a bird or 

 beast or fish but may be our superior in this, and 

 it is little of merit to be only our equal. 



If there be and who can doubt it pleasure in 

 anticipation, likewise there is in seeking out an 

 intimation in these matters of nature, and, securing 

 it, spend the hours in contemplation. This is a 

 subtle form of fancy that defies description. A 



