Songs of the Fields 



it did on the bed of ooze; for in tlie firm clay soil 



of fields and meadows only a narrow channel is 



cut, and so with forces renewed by concentration Where 



it comes sli]n)in<>- across Bone's Avoods ijasture. t'j*' Creek 



. , , Mourns 



Through his fields, always tree-shaded, it flows, 

 and then crosses farms whose owners I am glad 

 1 do not know; for liere my creek is robbed of 

 shelter, and left to spread ineffectually, and to 

 evaporate in fetid, unwholesome pools. The trees 

 are cut, and grazing stock by wading everywhere 

 trample down the banks and fill the channel with 

 soil; thus Avantonly Avasting Avater that in a few 

 more years these land-OAvners Avill be digging 

 ditches to reclaim. With broken heart it is dissi- 

 pated by the sun, and a dry sob of agony is the 

 only note raised as it painfvdly oozes across this 

 land and beneath the road bridge. 



Here the creek reaches deep-shaded channel 

 once more, and bursts into song crossing Arman- 

 trout's pasture; for it is partly shaded, though 

 many large trees on the banks are being felled. 

 A happy song is sung on the Rayn farm, Avhere 

 it is sheltered by trees and a big hill. In full 

 force it crosses the road again, slides beloAv the 

 railroad bridge, rounds the hill, chanting a requiem 

 to the little city of the dead on its banks, floAvs 

 through the upper corner of the old Limberlost 

 SAvamp, hurries across the road once more, and so 

 comes singing into S chaffer's meadow. 



301 



