Song Birds and Water Fowl 



rustic, homely feature of country life. The in- 

 vigorating, fragrant breath of May is in its 

 wealth of delicately odorous, snowy bloom, while 

 its abundant harvest of glowing fruit, mellowing 

 in the cool light of an October day, is sug- 

 gestive of all the most comfortable thoughts of 

 autumn. Its spirit is eminently sunshiny and 

 rural. What better place could one choose 

 beneath the sky wherein to doze, or read, or 

 ruminate, than a grassy slope beneath the 

 shadow of an apple-tree ? We cherish a sort of 

 moral respect, too, for a tree that chiefly aims 

 to be useful, without any pretensions to being 

 ornamental. For, in truth, this tree is not of 

 the kind that can shine in arboreal "society." 

 It cuts no fine and courtly figure, like the elm. 

 To use a word so attractive in its radical 

 sense, but slightly opprobrious in its applied 

 meaning, our dear old apple-tree is decidedly 

 "countrified." The maple, the elm, and the 

 beech at once find themselves at home in the 

 city, as " to the manner born ; " but the apple- 

 tree, never ! The very incongruous thought of 

 such a thing is a standing protest against its 

 transplantation ; and I am positive that the 

 tree itself would, figuratively speaking, vigor- 

 ously kick at the idea. 



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