OUTDOORS 



swung he from the silences of the wide marsh, 

 as a leaf might be tossed out on unreturning 

 winds to fall wherever fate might list, and 

 none the wiser. Morning and evening the 

 blackbirds flew over with noisy chatter, and 

 a kingfisher gossiped along the shores of the 

 lake or sat sculpturesquely on dead limbs of 

 a lightning-blasted tree. The sooty terns, 

 wavering of flight and querulous of cry, 

 wandered by and left him standing in severe 

 contemplation. And in the spring and fall 

 the wild-ducks, with their sharp-cut lines and 

 curves of aerial travel, darted on past him 

 and disappeared beyond the wild-rice and 

 willows. 



Down there in that nook of the swamp, 

 where tadpoles swam and the black water- 

 bugs wove shining jet tracery over the pools, 

 and where gaudy dragon-flies hovered, was 

 the last retreat of the melancholy crane. 

 For there was at last the spot where the sun 

 came least obtrusively, and where the hush 

 seemed more sacred, and where all nature 

 lay wrapped in shadowy garments of abso- 

 lute repose. Hardly the white water-lilies, 

 snowy hearts in green setting, with golden- 



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