48 NATURE IN ACADIE. 



the brook in Ifar-away England. But it is not peace they 

 sing of, not simple contentedness, for into these reveries 

 comes a great, passionless unrest, born of thoughts of 

 a breadth and scope far too subtle for the mind to grasp, 

 as sweeping and as unabiding as the ocean that frets 

 away for ever upon the granite below, and as un- 

 trammelled by the narrow injustices and heart-searings 

 of the passionate world of man. 



But a faint rare flush upsprings in the pale east, 

 deepening to a glow, ascending to the zenith, and over- 

 spreading until but a lone pale star twinkles low in the 

 west — a jewel glistening upon the train of flitting Night, 

 until up from across the sea peeps a great fiery disc 

 of dazzling gold, flashing forth the triumph of spring 

 over earth and sea and sky, and waking to busy life the 

 countless denizens of field and forest. 



Already the feathered choir have been heralding the 

 coming of the great Life-giver, and the woods are astir 

 with song — the petulant whistling of the " robin," the 

 chant of the water-thrush, and the many trillings of the 

 warblers, while along the shore the sable crow swells 

 the symphony with discordant music. But anon comes 

 another and a stranger song from the shady recesses of 

 the underwood — notes sweet-toned and changing, like 

 the babbling of a brook over stones, and with as sad and 

 stately an undercurrent. It is the song of the hermit 

 thrush — bird of the dark and gloomy forest, the secluded 

 swampy hollow, girt round with dense underwood and 

 crowded with tall breathless firs, staring up for' ever 

 from out of an endless twilight — 



" From deep secluded recesses, 

 From the fragrant cedars and the ghostly pines so still, 

 Came the carol of the bird." 



* * * * * 



The first of May seems to commence the spring in 

 Nova Scotia, judging by those sure guides, the birds : 

 and indeed the day was so delightfully fine that I felt 

 justified in honouring it as the first day of spring. The 

 trees, however, had scarcely commenced budding as 

 yet, although the snow had all vanished in the woods. 



