16 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:1— Jan., 1920 



May 29, 1919. 

 Dear Mother: 



I didn't finish telling you everything because I got tired of 

 writing. This will be the longest letter I have ever written but 

 I've just got to tell you all about the brook if it takes me 'most a 

 month. I didn't 'spect boys cared about such things but its great 

 fun when you know how to look around. 



We found out before we went home the first day that the brook 

 had another arm over to the north and that this arm was doing 

 a lot more work than the southern one. So we traced it back 

 to the upper fence where it began very much like its brother. 

 Only here is was steeper so it ran much faster and had dug out 

 quite a bed for itself. There were more rapids and more stones 

 washed bare. Sis showed me where the banks were of soft earth 

 and were saved from being washed away by the masses of tangled 

 grass-roots which made the bed more solid. 



We sat down near this part of the brook for a while to listen 

 to the afternoon converstation of the brook and of the birds, as 

 Sister called it. And I guess the brook really does talk, Mother! 

 You ought to hear it laugh when it tackles a good sized stone 

 and you ought to hear it sort of whispering to the grass as it scoots 

 under it. Then we heard some twittering noises and there were 

 some gold finches and a song sparrow in one of the trees. There 

 were more bobolinks laughing to each other over in the field and 

 'way off we heard a faint whistle of, what Sis called a meadow- 

 lark. She is going to show me the picture of all these birds and of 

 a lot of other birds too, when her bird book comes. 

 f The brook looks as though it would be something after the two 

 arms met although it does wander around through a swamp. 

 There are a lot of old, dead cat-tails around where it is very soft 

 and muddy water-cress and new weeds have grown up. The 

 bank slopes gradually while the bank is steep because the earth 

 is softer on the side and there are not so many rocks to stop the 

 work of the water. Both of the banks along here must be rather 

 old because there were big great pine trees which sister said were 

 at least two hundred years old. We guessed at measuring a chest- 

 nut tree and thought it was about 60 feet high. By stretching 

 my arms around the trunk and pacing around it I guessed it was 

 14 feet around it. 



