MY PET WOOD THEUSHES. 198 



ing pilgrim of loftier name and deeds than such as these. 

 Hear what the dedicated high priest of Nature's temple 

 Audubon ! has told us of his little comforter, the darling 

 Wood Thrush. 



" You now see before you my greatest favorite of the feath- 

 ered tribes of our woods. To it I owe much. How often 

 has it revived my drooping spirits, when I have listened to 

 its wild notes in our forest, after passing a restless night in 

 my slender shed, so feebly secured against the violence of 

 the storm, as to show me the futility of my best efforts to re- 

 kindle my little fire, whose uncertain and vacillating light 

 had gradually died away under the destructive weight of the 

 dense torrents of rain that seemed to involve the heavens and 

 the earth in one mass of fearful murkiness, save when the red 

 streaks of the flashing thunderbolt burst on the dazzled eye, 

 and, glancing along the huge trunk of the stateliest and no- 

 blest tree in my immediate neighborhood, were instantly fol- 

 lowed by an uproar of cracking, crashing, and deafening 

 sounds, rolling their volumes in tumultuous eddies far and 

 near, as if to silence the very breathings of the unformed 

 thought ! How often, after such a night, when far from my 

 dear home, and deprived of the presence of those nearest my 

 heart, wearied, hungry, drenched, and so lonely and desolate 

 as almost to question myself why I was thus situated, when 

 I have seen the fruits of my labors on the eve of being de- 

 stroyed, as the water, collected into a stream, rushed through 

 my little camp, and forced me to stand erect, shivering in a 

 cold fit like that of a severe ague, when I have been obliged 

 to wait, with the patience of a martyr, for the return of day, 

 trying in vain to destroy the tormenting musquitoes, si- 

 lently counting over the years of my youth, doubting, per 

 haps, if ever again I should return to my home, and em- 

 brace my family! how often, as the first glimpse of 

 morning gleamed doubtfully among the dusky masses 

 of the forest trees, has there come upon my ear, thrilling 

 along the sensitive cords which connect that organ with 



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