Impressions 



and find comfort. This oak stands for some- 

 thing greater than the crowd. There is here a 

 balm for the smarting soul, that neither pealing 

 organ or men's words can impart. Trouble 

 fades as a dream when the hamadryad whispers 

 and the trembling leaves repeat her soothing 

 words. 



Although the sky was overcast and the low- 

 lying fog, condensing, rolled in great drops of 

 water from every leaf to the ground, there was 

 promise of a pleasant day and that the passing 

 shower, like the brief sobbing of a chUd, would 

 soon be followed by sunny smiles. 



At Four A. M. I was up and about and heard 

 not the concert only, but that preliminary tun- 

 ing up that precedes it. Here, without doubt, 

 the robin is choir-master. His, it was, to sound 

 the first note as the light gained foothold and 

 the outlook merged from chaos to order. His 

 to be the leader — ^but Caution cries, halt ! Was 

 the robin thus recognized? Is not each one of 

 the several species of birds wholly independent 

 of and indifferent to the others ? We speak of 

 the morning "concert" because it describes the 

 effect of united voices upon us, but do birds 



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