182 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



pointed out the fact was much surprised that such things 

 .should happen in his woods without his knowledge. 



10. Ever since I entered the woods, even while listening 

 to the lesser songsters, or contemplating the silent forms 

 about me, a strain has reached my ear from out the depths 

 of the forest that to me is the finest sound in nature — the 

 song of the hermit-thrush. I often hear him thus a long 

 way off — sometimes over a quarter of a mile away, when 

 only the stronger and more perfect parts of his music reach 

 me ; and through the general chorus of wrens and warblers 

 I detect this sound rising pure and serene, as if a spirit 

 from some remote height were slowly chanting a divine 

 accompaniment. This song appeals to the sentiment of 

 the beautiful in me, and suggests a serene, religious beati- 

 tude as no other sound in nature does. It is, perhaps, more 

 of an evening than a morning hymn, though I hear it at 

 all hours of the day. It is very simple, and I can hardly 

 tell the secret of its charm. "0 spheral, spheral!" he 

 seems to say ; " holy, holy ! clear away, clear away ! 

 clear up, clear up ! " interspersed with the finest trills 

 and the most delicate preludes. 



11. It is not a proud, gorgeous strain, like the tanager's 

 or the grosbeak's ; suggests no passion or emotion — nothing- 

 personal — but seems to be the voice of that calm, sweet so- 

 lemnity one attains to in his best moments. It realizes a 

 peace and a deep, solemn joy that only the finest souls may 

 know. A few nights ago I ascended a mountain to see the 

 world by moonlight ; and when near the summit the her- 

 mit commenced his evening hymn a few rods from me. 

 Listening to this strain on the lone mountain, with the 

 full moon just rounded from the horizon, the pomp of 

 your cities and the pride of your civilization seemed trivial 

 and cheap. 



12. But the declining sun and the deepening shadows 

 admonish me that this ramble must be brought to a close. 



