JUNE JOYS 149 



and swinging over each swell with glorious strength 

 as her long wings drove through the current ; 

 farther and farther into the haze ; while fainter 

 grew her dim, vibrating outline, till it vanished in 

 the dark shelter of a clump of ivied trees. 



So the bird with the soft brown eye and rapid 

 wing was free at last. The valleys had become 

 her playground, the distant hills her own. Now 

 through the open doorway of the summer-house 

 the robin might pass fearless. I saw him alight, 

 with a merry, rattling cry, on the favourite perch, 

 where the old leash lay unstirred at his feet. The 

 sparrow there can find a fluffy feather for his 

 winter nest ; for the bird of prey has gone. The 

 long brown wings are no more vainly upraised in 

 the still air of a prison ; far aloft they cut the sky. 

 On their careless spread she floats serene along the 

 blue avenues of the clouds, while below, to rival 

 her speed, the lords of earth must crowd into the 

 maw of that huge mechanical serpent, whose iron 

 head is filled with a hell of fire and steam, and 

 whose shriek and roar may be heard even by her 

 among the snowy castles of the sky. Those 

 unerring feet have found a kindlier perch than the 



