22 AN ISLAND GARDEN 



sounds. Suddenly from the shore comes a clear 

 cry thrice repeated, " Sweet, sweet, sweet ! " And 

 I call to my neighbor, my brother, working also in 

 his garden plot, " The sandpiper ! Do you hear 

 him ? " and the glad news goes from mouth to 

 mouth, " The sandpiper has come ! " Oh, the 

 lovely note again and again repeated, " Sweet, 

 sweet, sweet ! " echoing softly in the stillness of the 

 tide-brimmed coves, where the quiet water seems 

 to hush itself to listen. Never so tender a cry 

 is uttered by any bird I know ; it is the most 

 exquisitely beautiful, caressing tone, heard in the 

 dewy silence of morning and evening. He has 

 many and varied notes and calls, some collo- 

 quial, some business-like, some meditative, and 

 his cry of fear breaks my heart to hear when 

 any evil threatens his beloved nest ; but this ten- 

 der call, " Sweet, sweet," is the most enchanting 

 sound, happy with a fullness of joy that never 

 fails to bring a thrill to the heart that listens. It 

 is like the voice of Love itself. 



Then out of the high heaven above, at once 

 one hears the happy chorus of the barn swallows ; 

 they come rejoicing, their swift wings cleave the 

 blue, they fill the air with woven melody of grace 

 and music. Till late August they remain. Like 

 the martins', their note is pure joy ; there is no 

 coloring of sadness in any sound they make. 

 The sandpiper's note is pensive with all its sweet- 

 ness; there is a quality of thoughtfulness, as it 

 were, in the voice of the song-sparrow ; the robin 

 has many sad cadences ; in the fairy bugling of 

 the oriole there is a triumphant richness, but not 



