Getting Acquainted 259 



woods, where he halts for dinner and to feed his 

 horse, convinces this shy denizen of the forest 

 that he is no Killer, and in no time they are 

 friends, each born again and each thrilled by the 

 indescribable joy of strange intimacies. 



The Canada goose, world voyager of the upper 

 air, a vanishing picture of the day and a weird 

 voice of the heavy night, is commonly regarded as 

 the wildest of all things, and yet after a few weeks 

 of the close relations of surgeon and patient the 

 barrier of fear was broken down and my wild 

 goose would come at my call like a dog. There is 

 no miracle about this. I have simply ceased to 

 stand for the most gruesome, hideous thing in 

 all the Universe of God an eternal, all-embrac- 

 ing fear. 



Some years ago an American writer of books 

 gave one this title: "He Fell in Love With His 

 Wife," and, though I never read the book, I can 

 imagine that the feeling must have been akin to 

 that experienced by the man who starts in to get 

 really well acquainted with a very familiar bird. 

 It's a mutual surprise party, they knew each other 

 so well and yet they did not know each other at 

 all. They had passed the time of day for years, so 

 to speak, but never for a single hour had they 

 paused "to loaf and invite their souls." The man 

 who fell in love with his wife was a worshipper of 

 beauty and his own wife was the most beautiful 



