The Chorus of the Forest 



and chattering squirrels are plentiful around them. 

 IToUo^v trees have no monetary value; they remain 

 and furnish slielter for everything desiring either 

 an upriglit or a prostrate home. 1 noticed in the 

 Avoods that dead trees had sufficient s])ace to lie 

 down and decay at ease. The squirrels bark and 

 race along the logs, coons sniff and shuffle in them, 

 and the cotton-tails bound with a quick flash of 

 ^^•hite from covert to co\'ert. The jays are kept 

 busy guarding the woods. Orioles trail their bub- 

 bling song along their chosen paths of air. Flam- 

 ing cardinals chip among the bushes, and barn 

 owls enliven the night. 



At no time are the A\'oods ever so the property 

 of any hmrian being as in early spring they belong 

 to the children. For tlie small ])eople, it seems to Frost 

 me, tlie flowers and birds are an especial inherit- foyers 

 ance from the Father. Tlie Ijord knew wlien He 

 blanketed the earth with snoA\'y white how children 

 would walk long distances and overturn the dead 

 leaves in their search for spring flowers, because 

 of all others they love these most, — just the wliite 

 anemones, pink-fluslied spring beauties, blue vio- 

 lets, and Dutcliman's l)reeches. 



No ])ird note I ever liave heard Avas quite so 

 sweet as tlie voices of the children out for a first 

 flower-hunt after the confinement of a long, cold 

 winter. Without knowing what it is they love, 

 they lift their heads, fill their lungs with the air 



131 



