THE CALL OF THE LAND 



average to be better behaved than city folk. 

 The sons and daughters of the country 

 are always practicing consciously or uncon- 

 sciously the liturgy set forth in Emily Dick- 

 inson's lines, entitled: 



"A Service of Song. 



"Some keep the Sabbath going to church ; 



I keep it staying at home, 

 With a bobolink for a chorister 



And an orchard for a dome. 

 Some keep the Sabbath in surplice ; 



I just wear my wings, 

 And instead of tolling the bell for church 



Our little sexton sings. 

 God preaches a noted clergyman 



And the sermon is never long. 

 So instead of going to heaven at last, 



I'm going all along." 



How desperately much of that bucolic 

 glory habitants of great cities miss God's 

 sky at best in retail pieces, often never at 

 all visible for days; the sun eclipsed behind 

 clouds of black smoke; never a sunrise or a 

 sunset; never a whole rainbow, only choppy 

 bits of one now and then, half seen, dingy 

 and ashamed, athwart tall chimneys and 

 sky-scraping business blocks. 



240 



