BIRDS ftND NATURE. 



ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



WHEN CRAB TREES BLOW 



If I were blind and deaf, and had 

 No sense of taste or touch, I know- 

 That I could tell by sense of smell, 

 When Crab Trees blow. 



No other fragrance of the wood 

 So cloys with sweet the laden air, 

 Or fills the soul with plenitude 

 Like Crab blooms fair. 



If I were blind, and had no sense 

 Of taste or touch or smell, I know 

 That by the sense of sound, could tell 

 When Crab Trees blow. 



By insects' buzz, and busy bees. 

 And humming birds among the trees, 

 And pliant twig's soft swaying sigh, 

 In spring time breeze. 



And if the sense of sound and smell 

 Were gone, by others still would know, 

 That seasons' cycle was complete 

 When Crab Trees blow. 



The songs of birds, the waving grass, 

 The forest's changing robes all tell 

 Of season's progress, and are signs 

 I know so well. 



But when my senses all are keen, 

 I watch the seasons steady grow; 

 Ah then! Ah then! my joy's complete 

 When Crab Trees blow. 



— L. O. MOSHER. 



193 



