Songs of the Fields 



*to 



three, and again four parts, each containing a small 

 oblong seed. The elegant vines cover fences, trees, 

 climb jjoles, and spread over bushes all along tb.e 

 road. The berries retain their brilliant color dur- 

 ing winter, so that on gray days they lighten the 

 gloom, and on white ones they contrast with a bril- 

 liancy that is equaled only by the scarlet heads of 

 the mountain ash. 



Such pictures and music are the natural ac- 

 companiment of the old snake-fences. Whenever 

 I come into country abounding in them my heart The 

 always begins softly to sing, "Praise the Ijord!" ^"^"^ 

 For where these old fences are replaced by ^vh•e 

 the farmers always make a clean sweej:) to the road- 

 side, and not the ghost of a picture or the echo 

 of a song is left to me. There are times when my 

 disappointment is so great it is difficult to avoid a 

 feeling of childish resentment. Sometimes I stop 

 my horse and attempt to preach timber conserva- 

 tion and the laws of attraction as applied to mois- 

 ture; but what has a passing Avoman to tell a lord 

 of creation busily improving his field? He is pro- 

 viding a few more feet of space for corn and po- 

 tatoes and enlarging his egotism over greater pev- 

 sonal possessions. I notice that in making a field 

 most men exhibit a sense of creation. It is where 

 their work is made manifest. Yes, even to a 

 greater degree than they realize, for sometimes 

 Avhen they arrogantly dismiss me and my theories 



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