ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF GOD 



wrought by water. Between the pure, 

 spiritual notes of the wood-thrush and the 

 mechanical iteration of the oven-bird and 

 red-eyed vireo, she gives us hundreds of 

 melodies, sweet, rollicking, ecstatic, weird, 

 pensive, melancholy, serene, and tender. In 

 the same class with the instinct-taught music 

 of birds belongs the merry, aimless whistling 

 of men and boys who have the cheerful dis- 

 position of a bobolink. 



Here, as we approach the merging line 

 where human voices are half nature's and 

 half art's, one may fitly consider some of the 

 musical triumphs of man. Yet before any 

 purely audible effects receive attention, ac- 

 knowledgment should be made to some of 

 those unheard melodies which are sweeter. 

 Notable among these is the still music of 

 poetry, which may reach the inward ear 

 through the eye alone. Only a cursory 

 glance at the metrical treasures of the world 

 proves how easily a master spirit may paral- 

 lel in whatever medium he chooses to use 

 any effect wrought by a sister art. 



Though veiled by its utilitarian ends, 



70 



