154 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



belonging to different owners, and the majority perhaps 

 do not own a rood. Yet to a certain extent, and in a 

 very important sense, the earth, the trees, the flowers, 

 and the landscape are common property. He who 

 owns a fine garden enjoys but little advantage over him 

 who is without one. We are all free in this country to 

 roam over the wide fields and pastures ; we can eat of 

 the fruits of the earth, and feast our eyes on the beau 

 ties of nature, as well as the owner of the largest pos 

 sessions. A man is not poor, who while he possesses 

 the comforts of life, is thus capable of enjoying the 

 blessings of nature. His possessions are not circum 

 scribed by fences and boundary lines. All the earth is 

 his garden cultivated without expense, and enjoyed 

 without anxiety. He partakes of these bounties which 

 cannot be confined to a legal possessor, and which 

 Providence as a compensation to those who are worn 

 with toil, or harassed with care, spreads out to gladden 

 them with renewed hopes, and to warm their hearts 

 with gratitude and benevolence. 



June is of all months of the year the most delightful 

 period of woodland minstrelsy. With the early birds 

 that still continue their warbling, the summer birds 

 have joined their louder and more melodious strains. 

 Early in the morning, when the purple light of dawn 

 first awakens one from sleep, and while the red rays 

 that fringe the eastern arches of the sky, with a beauti 

 ful tremulous motion are fast brightening into a more 

 dazzling radiance, we hear from the feathered tribe the 

 commencement of their general hymn of gladness. 

 There is first an occasional twittering, then a single 

 performance from some early waker, then a gradual 

 joining of voices, until at length there is a full chorus 

 of song. Every few minutes some new voice joins in 



