Music of the Wild 



one that li^ed throiigliout the summer season among 

 the rosebuslies along the hne fence west of the 

 cabin, and no doubt hibernated somewhere on the 

 jiremises. This past summer the same one, or an- 

 other similar, moved around to the orchard and 

 slept among some simflowers and wild roses shad- 

 ing my bedroom ^^■indo^v. JNly critic found him, 

 and came racing to know if I \\'anted his picture, 

 but later she objected to having it used in this book. 

 The i)oem reconstructed her, as it should every one. 



You will find it in complete form in the "Home 

 Folk's" volume of Riley's poems, and if you do 

 not own the book, get it at once and learn what 

 you have missed. As has lieen explained, the hop- 

 toad is one of our home folks and lives ver}^ close, 

 M'ithin a few feet of us, and works as diligently 

 for our comfort as the martins of the windmill, 

 that, with bats and flycatchers, clear the air over- 

 head of insect pests. 



There is perpetual amazement in the amount 



of natural history a poet knows. Does he make 



What an es]:)ecial study of it or does he see so clearly 



Poets |]-|,j^ ,^j^ obiect is photom-aphed on his brain and 



Know . •;..,', '^ \ 



he writes ot it without knowing that he has impov- 

 erished the text-books ( Take this poem by .Tames 

 Whitcomb TJiley. It is a song of three stanzas, 

 A\ith a unifoj-m refrain to each. X^rom it you learn 

 the fact tliat the toad has hibernated; the season 

 of his a^^pearance, his location, and his character- 



194 



