20 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



as we view it through the telescope, or the 

 life of stagnant water when we see it in the 

 microscope, or the life in the ground when 

 we stir the earth in spring. What are those 

 birds that cross the vision at mountain 

 height, mere specks against the argosies of 

 silver ? Eagles, are they, or hawks, or con- 

 dors and such strange winged creatures of 

 other lands, spying out the country ? Or 

 are they archa^opteryces, plesiosauri, and 

 pterodactyls left over from the age of sau- 

 rians and afraid to come down, knowing 

 that man, the fiercest of destroyers, would 

 stuff them and put them into his museums ? 

 Youngsters make more use of their eyes 

 and nature than we, and they can probably 

 tell us more about the sky than we see. 

 Their fresh fancies find odd creatures in 

 the air. My youngest, standing at the 

 window, called to his mother to look at the 

 horses. She, hearing no sound of hoofs on 

 the pavement, answered that there were no 

 horses near. " Yes," he insisted ; " cloud 

 horses, galloping in the sky." 



How apt these babes are in their 

 speeches ! There is beauty in their abso- 



