AN EXAMPLE OF INDUSTRY. 141 



searching eagerly for some atom which will fur- 

 nish him a supper. Finding nothing, he flies to 

 the trunk of another maple, down which he goes 

 head first in a series of short running leaps, 

 uttering his cheery chuckle and peering and 

 pecking on the way. When he reaches the bot- 

 tom, upward he flits a dozen feet, then moves 

 down again until he reaches a fragment of loose 

 bark beneath which is, perhaps, some form of 

 hibernating insect. At this he pecks until it is 

 loosened and falls. Beneath it his search is re- 

 warded with a mouthful, and away he goes. 

 Ever at work, ever contented, this little ashy- 

 blue and white denizen of the winter woods is 

 an example of industry well worth noting. 



I climb the slope to my beloved boulders and 

 stroke the moss on their gray surface as gently 

 as, in the past, I stroked the brown hair on the 

 heads of my boys now men. May the same 

 spirit of kindly greeting always exist between 

 these boulders and my soul. Why should I not 

 greet them thus ? Has not their presence in- 

 spired some of the best thoughts of my past, and 

 what is more precious, more valuable to any 



