BIRD PARADISE 175 



give a marvelous return, but the height to climb, 

 — the mark to hit, is the imperfect season so 

 ordered that it shall give the perfect return. 

 Why is it not the secret of life's best endeavor T 

 "Why is it not the servant's place, in the image 

 of Him who called man into being and gave him 

 the world to conquer, yea, recreate ? In the light 

 of such a thought my vegetables are instructors 

 in righteousness of no mean stature. They sim- 

 ply bid the parson to strike hands with the life 

 that thrills in plant and tree, keeping the clasp 

 firm and strong, until the two are one — ^life below 

 is perfected in the life above. 



Occasionally I see a small flock of the golden 

 plovers. In olden time they came to us in the 

 fall of the year in large numbers — now we rarely 

 see them. Far up In the arctic regions they do 

 all their housekeeping, coming to us in Septem- 

 ber and October. The range of their flight I am 

 told is the entire extent of North and South 

 America. Some writers aver that the autumn 

 journey of a portion of this bird host is down 

 the Atlantic coast — the entire distance to South 

 America being compassed in a single flight. I 

 recall an instance when we were taking one of 



