BIRD PARADISE 221 



in the business, and while it served to tide over 

 several hard places he did not in the end exactly 

 like it. I apprehend that most of us, under such 

 circumstances, would feel that we had lost some- 

 thing of value. 



One of the old signs of the countryside reads, 

 "When the field-mice improve the fall weather 

 to put their homes in the hollow trees, then the 

 winter to follow will be a severe one." I have 

 known the sign to fail as often as otherwise, but 

 then nearly all signs do that. Part of the lasting 

 value of the ordinary sign is its failure to ratify 

 the original outreach. What a curious life it is 

 that the little field-mice present to us. Whether 

 we can use them as prophets or not, the fact re- 

 mains that they go to and fro in the wide fields 

 always on duty, as they see and know the grace. 

 Sometimes when I am crossing the fields I visit 

 the large stone heaps, knowing well that my small 

 friends harbor there and have something to say 

 to me. Not long ago I turned over a half de- 

 cayed rail, and in so doing uncovered the nest of 

 a pair of these little fellows. It was the species 

 that we term the jumping mouse. There were 

 four or five young ones in the nest, and the way 



