Music of the Wild 



floods, and it nourishes such an abundance of rank 

 growth as men scarcely can penetrate. Then the 

 Limberlost and the thicket hokl a kjng conversa- 

 tion, to teU each other how very content and happy 

 they are. The bed of the Limberlost in the thicket 

 is ooze and muck, so the Abater falls silent M'hile 

 slipping over the velvet softness, with only a ■\vhis- 

 per to the birds and trees; not so loud as the song 

 of the flags, rushes, and water hyacinths that grow 

 on the banks. The many trees and masses of 

 shrubs lower their tones to answer the creek, and 

 he who would know their secret must find for him- 

 self a place on the bank and be very quiet, for in 

 the thicket the stream will sing only the softest 

 lullaby, just the merest whisper song. 



The big turtles in the Avater are quiet folk. 

 So are the sinous black snakes sunning on the 

 bushes, and the muskrats homing along the banks. 

 As if loth to break the dark, damj) stillness with 

 louder notes, the doves coo softly; for they, too, 

 have a secret, the gi'eatest of any bird in all the 

 world. Xo wonder they keep together and live so 

 lovingly, and coo and coo softly; those wild, ten- 

 der, and — above all other — loving birds. One 

 would think they A^ould warble from the treetops 

 and soar with tlie eagle, had not long years taught 

 that modesty and tenderness are their most promi- 

 nent characteristics. 



For this is their secret. They are the chosen 

 294 



