124 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



boxes and in a corner of my porch. There 

 are cardinal redbirds in my garden, and rose- 

 breasted grosbeaks in the orchard. Song-spar- 

 rows nest in the gooseberry-bushes, and robins, 

 thrushes, chats, vireos, and flycatchers tarry 

 wherever they can find a nesting-place, and 

 all are in full song. So it is, therefore, that 

 my elm-tree oriole speaks not for itself only but 

 for them when its clear, flute-like whistle pro- 

 claims from dewy morn until the gloaming, 

 " Music, sweet music, all day !" 



When in the misty, murky east 



Forbidding clouds are piled, 

 Fit realms where imps of darkness feast 



And gladness never smiled, 

 Ere long there comes, despite the glance 



Of night's forbidding frown, 

 The cheery morning's swift advance, 



And casts her foeman down ; 

 Then one fair bird, unmoved by fear, 



Speaks to my doubting soul, 

 Revives my hopes with words of cheer, 



My elm-tree oriole. 



The hours pass, the sun in might 



Bids gloomy shadows flee, 

 As some strange troubling dream, the night 



Has fled beyond the sea. 



