24 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



ing. We work diligently and nature supplies 

 the living material, and that is the best part of 

 it; craft can vary its growth, art can accentuate 

 and frame its charms, but its everchanging 

 beauty is God's priceless gift. 



These spring and summer days are so rich 

 and opportunal, everything feels the pulse of 

 life. The birds show it and sing at their best, 

 their songs fairly bubbling over with glee. They 

 greet the dawn so cheerily and farewell the sun 

 with more plaintive tones. How they vie with 

 each other in zest and variation, and to which 

 the prize should be awarded we could not and 

 would not tellj it would be a breach of soul 

 delight. 



There is that exuberant Thrasher sur- 

 charged with raptures, which the songful hours 

 of the day are not enough that he may sing it 

 all out. There on the very tree-top, with his 

 throat bared to the heavens, with drooping 

 wings in sensuous delight, he pours forth his 

 tireless torrent of rich and varied song, easily 

 leading the chorus. That Catbird, shy ven- 

 triloquist and occasional passionate, poetic 

 singer, nesting down near the brook Arno, how 

 he delights to sing at daybreak in the mountain 

 ash close to our window, always welcome 

 though he always wakens us ! But what a gen- 



