upraised wings as the 

 singer preens his plumage 

 with ivory bill. This is the rose- 

 breasted grosbeak, with his overflow- 

 ing cup, his pastoral cornucopia, his 

 musical horn of plenty. 



If, as Hawthorne believed a 

 most inspiring and ennobling faith 

 for the fields "each humblest weed 

 stands there to express some thought 

 or mood of ours, and yet how long it 

 stands in vain," what shall be said of 



the conscious, buoyant, throbbing singing-birds? "How many 

 human aspirations are realized in their free holiday lives, and how 

 many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song!" How 

 many are the burdens lifted on their wings and dissipated in 

 their music, whose mysterious message has brought peace ! 



" Verily verily : you know it : you see it : cheery are we : we 

 cheer you" such is the melodious witness that seems to descend 



"THE PREACHER. 



