114 AS THEY TAKE THEIR FLIGHT 



takes the scales from eyes which have been mercifully 

 deprived of sight, lest the crowding multitude of 

 objects in the streets excite a wearied brain to dis- 

 traction. Once the lost sense is restored, the trail of 

 the Muskrat, the print of the Squirrel's foot on the 

 sandy bank of the creek, the scars where the Porcu- 

 pine gnawed the Beech, or the Deer rubbed the 

 velvet from his horns, the nimble disappearance of 

 Creepers and Warblers, and the many traces of 

 nature's activity are seen with all their old distinctness. 

 In the abomination of city vapours nature has 

 dulled the sense of smell, but it is restored with the 

 blended odours of the Pine, the Birch, the Sassafras, 

 and the Balm-of-Gilead. The myriad noises jarring 

 on the ear have caused a happy deadening of the sense 

 of hearing, but out in the heart of the woods the old 

 discernment is restored, and the liquid notes of the 

 Hermit Thrush away in the distance arrest and hold 

 the keenest attention. Every sense is on the alert, 

 that none of nature's manifold gifts be wasted. All 

 her aspects are studied with the closest interest. 

 Every tree and every flower becomes a new revelation. 

 We feel that the great treasure-house is gone, but 

 prize all the more highly the remnants of wealth that 

 remain. Even the suburban ravines, marshes, and 

 woods, where wild life, driven from former habita- 

 tions, finds shelter in the indifference of a city, take 

 on the charm of the primeval forest. There we can 



