II 



BARN SWALLOWS 



BARN SWALLOW is a happy name, but I am not sure 

 the bird is not still more at home in a deserted mill 

 by a little English trout brook. There are many 

 of these old corn-mills falling to ruin in England ; 

 and once the great wheel is locked and the dusty mil- 

 ler and his men gone for ever, how soon the building 

 begins to fall to pieces ! The woodwork rots, the 

 windows are broken a village boy can hardly see 

 a pane of glass in a deserted building without casting 

 a stone through it and the brickwork, which has 

 held out for centuries, perhaps, becomes shaky and 

 dangerous. 



An old mill is like many an old man who has 

 been at work hard nearly all his days when he 

 ceases from work he breaks up ; it is the regular 

 daily routine of work that keeps an old mill alive, 

 despite the rush of waters and the wear and tear, 

 as it is the daily routine that keeps alive an old man. 



A corn mill by an English brook always draws 

 wild things ; but it is when the wheel ceases to lash 

 the water and is locked that the birds make them- 

 selves quite at home. " The dark round of the 

 dripping wheel " has ended in a mill where I often 

 watch for the trout to rise, and the floor is dusty no 



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