THINGS TO HEAR THIS SUMMER 



55 



crows and jays have already begun their ca wings 

 and screamings that later on become the dominant j 

 t notes of the golden autumn. They are not so loud! 

 and characteristic now because of the insect orchestra! 

 throbbing with a rhythmic beat through the air. 

 wide, constant, and long-continued is this throbbing* 

 note of the insects that by midsummer you almost 

 cease to notice it. But stop and listen field crick-] 

 ets, katydids, long-horned grasshoppers, snowy ti 

 crickets : ckwl-chwi-chwi-chwl thrr-r-r-r-r-r-r 

 crrri-crrri-crrri'crrri yru-yru-yru-yru retreat 

 retreat -retreat -treat -treat like the throbbing 

 the pulse. 



XII 



One can do no more than suggest in a short chap- 

 ter like this ; and all that I am doing here is catch- 

 ing for you some of the still, small voices of my\ 

 summer. How unlike those of your summer theyV 

 may be I can easily imagine, for you are in the " 

 Pacific Coast, or off on the vast prairies of Canada, 

 or down in the sunny fields and hill-country of th 

 South. 



I have done enough if I have suggested that you 

 top and listen ; for after all it is having ears whic 

 lear not that causes the trouble. Hear the voices! 

 that make your summer vocal the loud and stillj 

 voices which alike pass unheeded unless we pause to 

 I hear. 



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