78 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



tilted and tugged with their long bills, and flap- 

 ped each other with their wings, their tail- 

 feathers stiffly erected and their plumage in- 

 verted, until the spectator, a conscientious mem- 

 ber of a society religiously opposed to all 

 species of combats, save those of flesh and spirit, 

 stepped from his place of concealment and put 

 both belligerents to flight. 



A few evenings after this conversation, wea- 

 rying of your book or your pen, you look out from 

 your window upon the tranquil face of night. 

 It is a calm, clear evening ; you can just hear 

 the roar of the distant dam, and looking toward 

 the quiet meadow, see the run gleaming in the 

 moonlight, with the poplar's tall top, rising 

 straight and still as a steeple's spire, above the 

 the dark belt of woods on the back ground. 



Beyond that wood is the old Dunker grave- 

 yard, where several members of the farmer's 

 family are interred ; you cannot see their tomb- 

 stones, but you know they are there, shining 

 white and still in the cold moonbeam : you look 

 aloft, where the stars are burning, and, perhaps, 

 some serious misgivings of the lonely life you 

 are leading some true notion of the vanity of 

 your earthly aims comes over you, as you think 

 of that cluster of graves before those steadfast, 

 far away lights. 



