BIRDS AND NATURE. 



ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



THE WAYSIDE SPRING. 



Fair dweller by the dusty way, 



Bright saint within a mossy shrine, 

 The tribute of a heart today 



Weary and worn is thine. 



The earliest blossoms of the year, 



The sweet-briar and the violet, 

 The pious hand of Spring has here 



Upon thine altar set. 



And not alone to thee is given And here the wagoner blocks his wheels 

 The homage of the pilgrim's knee. To quaff the cooling, generous boon ; 



But oft the sweetest birds of heaven Here, from the sultry harvest fields, 

 Glide down and sing to thee. • The reapers rest at noon. 



Here daily from his beechen cell. And oft the beggar, masked with tan, 

 The hermit squirrel steals to drink, With rusty garments gray with dust, 



And flocks, which cluster to their bell. Here sits and dips his little can. 

 Recline along thy brink. And breaks his scanty crust; 



And lulled beside the whispering stream 



Off drops to slumber unawares. 

 And sees the angels of his dream 



Upon celestials stairs. 



Dear dweller by the dusty way. 



Thou saint within a mossy shrine, 

 The tribute of a heart today 



Weary and worn is thine. 



— Thomas Buchanan Re.\d. 



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