266 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



houses having noticed the uproar), the chorus 

 was loud. I could hear it from my window, 

 perhaps a quarter of a mile distant. This 

 morning there is no sign of batrachian life 

 about the place. Within a very short time 

 long before the tadpoles, which will be 

 hatched in two or three days, can possibly 

 have matured the pool will in the ordi- 

 nary course of nature have dried up, and all 

 those eggs will have gone to waste. 



A strange life it seems. What do the 

 frogs live on underground ? Why do they 

 omit, year after year, to come forth and lay 

 their eggs ? Do they wait to be drowned 

 out, and then (like thrifty farmers, who im- 

 prove a wet season in which to marry) pro- 

 ceed to perpetuate the species ? 



These and many other questions it would 

 be easy to ask. Especially one would like 

 to read from the inside the story of the life 

 and adventures of the young, which grow 

 from the egg to maturity through tadpole 

 to frog without seeing father or mother. 

 What a little we know ! And how few are 

 the things we see ! 



