WAYS OF THE SIX-FOOTED 



PIPERS AND MINNESINGERS 



E are wont to speak of 

 " the silence of the 

 night" or "the silence 

 of the woods and fields." 

 We find such silence 

 restful and soothing 

 when we are weary of 

 the din of cities and the noise of crowded thorough- 

 fares. Yet if the listener in the summer meadows 

 or summer darkness be analytic, if his ear be 

 attimed to the harmonies of nature, he will dis- 

 cover that the air is filled with the soft music of a 

 vast orchestra — music so continuous and so monoto- 

 nous that it seems rather to belong to earth's silences 

 than to earth's sounds. Few of us realize how 

 oppressive would be utter silence ; and few of us 

 comprehend the debt of gratitude that we owe to 



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