WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 41 



and an illumination to the forest gloom. Bees 

 visited the flowers, and occasionally a bumblebee 

 buzzed hurriedly through, as if in desperate haste 

 to reach a certain place and knowing well his des- 

 tination. Grasshoppers, too, in the autumn days 

 enlivened the scene. Occasionally a huge fellow 

 leaped out of the grass with a crackling and the 

 flash of colour like a fairy rocket before he settled 

 back. 



Often I was in the grove when the snowflakes 

 fell; and I saw the coloured leaves fall one by one. 

 Grandly the moon shone in these scenes. Early 

 morning and evening lights under the trees and 

 through the woods were strange and beautiful. 

 They put the trees at their best and in attitudes 

 diff^erent from those shown in the down-pouring 

 light of midday. 



The aspen grove where I frequently watched the 

 manners and customs of our wild kindred was a 

 much better place in which to study natural history 

 than that afforded by any zoo. I wish that a com- 

 pany of boys and girls might have been with me. 

 How they would have enjoyed these real nature 

 stories! I am sure they would have been happy. 

 But, thanks to the Audubon Society, to other 

 organizations, and to numerous individuals, boys 

 and girls are beginning to watch, enjoy, and receive 

 the benefits of knowing the wild people of the woods 

 who dress in fur and feathers. 



Yes, Mother Nature conducts a delightful out- 



