14 WOODLAND IDYLS. 



me their sweetest music. I would see her fair- 

 est sights, taste her most delicious savors, sense 

 her most fragrant odors. 



And so again I stretch myself out and look 

 not upward into the blue vault of heaven but 

 downward amongst the roots of her grasses and 

 her mosses. Lying thus I hear the gentle dron- 

 ings and buzzings of her crawling creatures, 

 smell the concentrated odors of her blanket of 

 mold and feel the great heart-throb of the 

 mother in unison with that of mine. Lying 

 thus there also falls upon me from above the 

 smile and blessing of her progenitor and para- 

 mour, father to me and all to which she ever 

 has or ever will give birth master of her and 

 many others of her kind the sun. 



It is eventide. Around me, as I sit in my 

 doorway, the rain drops are falling, falling 

 with a gentle murmur and pelter on leaf of 

 tree, on stem of grass, on the sloping roof of 

 tent. A cricket chirrups from some safe re- 

 treat. A chipping sparrow alights near with a 

 green caterpillar in its bill. On the slope be- 

 fore me a pair of flickers are seeking ants and 

 other ground frequenting insects. Soon they 

 fly, their white rump patches showing prettily 

 while on the wing. Away they go to the bole 

 of a maple, alight on its side and dodging from 

 one another around it, engage in a merry game 



