LEAP AND TENDRIL 



ings, the springs, the creek — I see them all, and 

 am already half in possession. 



Even Thoreau felt this attraction, and recorded 

 in his Journal : " I know of no more pleasing em- 

 ployment than to ride about the country with a 

 companion very early in the spring, looking at 

 farms with a view to purchasing, if not paying for 

 them." 



Blessed is the man who loves the soil! 



m 

 One mid-April morning two pairs of bluebirds 

 were in very active and at times violent courtship 

 about my grounds. I could not quite understand the 

 meaning of all the fuss and flutter. Both birds of 

 each pair were very demonstrative, but the female 

 in each case the more so. She followed the male 

 everywhere, lifting and twinkling her wings, and 

 apparently seeking to win him by both word and 

 gesture. If she was not telling him by that cheery, 

 animated, confiding, softly-endearing speech of 

 hers, which she poured out incessantly, how much 

 she loved him, what was she saying ? She was con- 

 stantly filled with a desire to perch upon the precise 

 spot where he was sitting, and if he had not moved 

 away, I think she would have alighted upon his 

 back. Now and then, when she flitted away from 

 him, he followed her with like gestures and tones 

 and demonstrations of affection, but never with 



38 



