THINGS TO HEAR THIS SPRING 91 



humming-ing-ing-ing-ing of the excited bees. But 

 hear their myriad wings, fanning the perfume into 

 the air and filling the sunshine with the music of 

 work. The whir, the hum of labor of a busy fac- 

 tory, of a great steamship dock is always music 

 to those who know the blessedness of work ; but it 

 takes that knowledge, and a 'good deal of imagination 

 besides, to hear the music in it. Not so with the bees. 

 The season, the day, the colors, and perfumes they 

 are the song ; the wings are only the million-stringed 

 seolian upon which the song is played. 



VIII 



You should hear the grass grow. What ! I re- 

 peat, you should hear the grass grow. I have a friend, 

 a sound and sensible man, but a lover of the out-of- 

 doors, who says he can hear it grow. But perhaps it 

 is the soft stir of the working earthworms that he 

 hears. Try it. Go out alone one of these April 

 nights ; select a green pasture with a slope to the 

 south, at least a mile from any house, or railroad ; lay 

 your ear flat upon the grass, listen without a move 

 for ten minutes. You hear something or do you 

 feel it ? Is it the reaching up of the grass ? is it the 

 stir of the earthworms? is it the pulse of the throb- 

 bing universe? or is it your own throbbing pulse? 

 It is all of these, I think ; call it the heart of the 

 grass beating in every tiny living blade, if you wish 

 to. You should listen to hear the grass grow. 



