Music of the Wild 



The river is a house, tlie bed its floor, the sur- 

 face its roof, aud all the water-folk its resideuts. 

 AMiat a Avonderful thiug it would be if the Mater 

 ^^•ere transpai'eut, tliat ^\e might see the turtles, 

 eels, and cattish busy with tlie affairs of life; bass, 

 pickerel, aud suckers maintaining the laM's of su- 

 j^remacy. and A\'ater puppies at play! When the 

 purple tints on its l)anks fade, tree-bloom baptizes 

 it with golden i)ollen, and a week later showers 

 it with snoMy petals of wihl plum, tliorne. crab, 

 and ha\\. All summer the trees drop a loosened 

 leaf here and there, with (rOod Samaritan results; 

 for these make lifeboats on which luckless wasps, 

 bees, and worms fallen from blooming trees ride 

 to safety and dry their drenched coats and 

 weiglited Avings. Trees are the great life-saving 

 service of the ri^'er, especially in the fall, when the 

 water is covered with crisp, dead leaves. ]Many of 

 them are needed, for the cool nights chill the in- 

 sects so that they fall easily, the winds blow with 

 luiusual violence, and there are three times as many 

 victims drowning as in summer. 



Throughout the season many blooms decorate 

 the ri-\-er bank, but two stand pre-eminent: the 

 God's redbud borne on a small tree, the mallow on a 

 Rarest ghrub. The tree floAver is remarkable because it 

 is almost the first color sliown, and it breaks all 

 OA'er the branches like a severe attack of measles, 

 when not the hint of a leaf is in sight. These come 



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