215 



bending their necks tenderly to tell their 

 .little ones by the soft caress of their cheeks 

 that they loved and understood them. A ^^i l J$f 

 W rnntenred rabble filled the twilight WaprOnK<^~ 



low, contented gabble filled the twilight 

 stillness, unintelligible perhaps, yet telling 

 plainly by its changing accents the goslings' 

 changing feelings from the day's bright ex- 

 citement to the evening's sleepy content, 

 and recalling to me in a sudden wave of ten- 

 derness the chatter of a little child far away 

 in the same twilight, who could speak no 

 words as yet, but whose feelings I could 

 understand perfectly as she talked back to 

 the friendly universe and then crooned her- 

 self and her dolly to sleep, alone in her own 

 little crib. A great tide of light rolled sud- 

 denly over the plain from the west as the 

 clouds lifted, bathing all things in a rosy 

 splendor, and the young birds stopped their 

 chatter to turn their heads and watch silently 

 for a moment as the glory swept over them ; 

 and the voices were different, more hushed 

 and sleepy, yet with a slight note of wonder, 

 like birds wakened by a light, when I heard 

 them again. In the nearest thickets a choir 



ffieM/ct^ 



