MAY 101 



such music on earth ! " If there were not so 

 many dear birds in the lovely May world, 

 surely the sparrows would be dearest of all ! 



And yet, in the thickets, in the grasses, in 

 the tall trees, how many shy feathered things 

 find refuge. In the fields the quails are 

 whistling, and in the pine-trees the grackles are 

 cawing. The barns and sheds belong to the 

 phcebes and to the swallows. The swallows 

 are gay freebooters, busy with their own con- 

 cerns from morning until night ; but the little 

 phcebes sit about quite idly, complaining with 

 their pretty little sorrowful voices that seem to 

 have nothing in common with the riotous 

 mirth of their neighbours, whose epitha- 

 lamiums are filling the world with joy. Ah, 

 there were birds in plenty in the orchard that I 

 loved, and it was because the little brothers 

 of the air knew that its master loved them, 

 that all gentle minnesingers rested safely when 

 he was near. What if their presence meant a 

 scanty crop of cherries, or the loss of the 

 juiciest pears ? A single sparrow singing in the 

 hedge at dawn was worth all the cherries that 

 ever grew, and all the pears that ever ripened 

 were but a poor exchange for the evening 



