i 24 Up in the Morning Early. 



bosoms white as wool, and the trees on the banks look 

 down on aerial images of themselves reversed in its 

 borders. And now, listen ! there is the croak of the 



frogs as they signal . 

 to each other, and 

 already the newts are 

 active, and display 

 themselves with their 

 strange eyes ; and you 

 may not sit long with- 

 out hearing the calls 



of birds who have nests in the trees near by, telling 

 to their mates and their neighbours that you are 

 there, an intruder and a stranger, and to beware 

 of you. 



Yonder, see a rabbit scuds home from a too long 

 sustained stay in a neighbouring turnip or wheat field ; 

 almost at our feet, a mole puts out his head, and 

 suddenly withdraws it again, though we have remained 

 almost as still as a statue, which proves that Mr. Mole 

 has quick eyes somewhere in his queer, sharp-pointed 

 little head. Yonder goes a weasel wriggling over a 

 turf fence, on the other side of which probably it has 

 its home, gorged, as one can imagine, with the brains 

 of silly rabbits and rabbitlings. He is a symbol of 

 the great blot on creation the creatures that prey on 

 the weak and innocent, never engage in a fair fight, 

 and are careful to delectate themselves only with the 

 tit-bits. What a peculiar image nature is of human 

 nature in all its phases, lofty and low, pure and 

 selfish ! 



And now in front, look you, there comes towards us 

 a cat, with a look of intent resolution and business. 

 That cat is a poacher, and has been away at one of 



