FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 167 



They circle around me, fluttering and soar 

 ing, and alight here and there upon the 

 stalks of timothy, which bend but do not 

 break under their weight, though from the 

 size of the birds one would expect them to 

 be much too heavy for the slender grass. 



When I reach the upper part of the 

 field I find the harvesters at work, the 

 daisies, and such nutritious growth as they 

 have permitted among them, going down 

 crisply before the sharp scythes. I sup 

 pose that in time we may learn to see a 

 like poetry in the action of the mowing 

 machine with the driver riding atop ; but 

 as yet there is something which appeals to 

 me much more strongly in the free swing 

 and graceful swaying motion of the men 

 as they follow one another step by step 

 across the field, the grass falling in swaths 

 at their side ; while the musical ringing of 

 the scythe stones upon the steel at inter 

 vals, I fear, is quite inimitable, and not to 

 be compensated for by any substituted 

 sound. 



My poultry yard has received its con 

 signment of fowls. They have been domes 

 ticated here for less than a week, and were 

 at first disposed to be very timid and flighty. 

 But already they have become accustomed 



