BIRD PARADISE 6i 



the sounds that the old brown earth was emitting. 

 The response was all aglow with life. Every 

 rootlet, part and creature was alert with that 

 genial flow of life which never palls on the taste. 

 The birds caught the key-note of the refrain and 

 I found it not a little difficult to put in a stroke 

 of work where all was festal to the eye and ear. 

 One robin, I am quite sure, continued his song 

 for a full hour, and the English sparrows rivaled 

 him in time if not in music. The meadow birds 

 in the fields beyond the cemetery joined as one 

 in saluting the morning, and even the crows 

 seemed to have a little more cheer in their 

 solemn notes. Someway the morning was so 

 fresh and fair and everything was so in keeping 

 with the new day that I was somewhat averse to 

 even removing the weeds. Each was a temple 

 not made with hands and to destroy such a 

 structure is not an easy task. On such a morn- 

 ing they stand as perfected praise, and who 

 can wantonly put a jarring note into such an 

 anthem ? 



I notice that the toads are now on duty in larger 

 numbers. I have a notion that some of them 

 were late in coming out of their winter quarters. 



