APRIL DAYS 



overhead come down the clarion note of 

 the goose, the sibilant beat of the wild 

 ducks' wings, the bleat of the snipe and 

 the plover's cry, each making his way to 

 northern breeding grounds. Are you not 

 glad they are going as safely as their un- 

 caught shadows that sweep swiftly across 

 the shadowy meshes of the forest floor ? 

 Are you not content to see what you see, 

 hear what you hear, and kill nothing but 

 time ? 



Verily, you shall have a clearer con- 

 science than if you were disturbing the 

 voice of nature with the discordant up- 

 roar of your gun, and marring the fresh 

 odors of spring with the fumes of villain- 

 ous saltpetre. 



In the open marshes the lodges of the 

 muskrats have gone adrift in the floods ; 

 but the unhoused inmates count this a 

 light misfortune, since they may voyage 

 again with heads above water, and go 

 mate-seeking and food-gathering in sun- 

 shine and starlight, undimmed by roof 

 of ice. As you see them cutting the 

 smooth surface with long, swift, arrowy 

 wakes, coasting the low shore in quest of 

 brown sweethearts and wives, whimper- 

 31 



