MY PET WOOD THRUSHES. 
198 
ing pilgrim of loftier name and deeds than sucli as these. 
Hear what the dedicated high priest of Nature's temple — ■ 
Audubon ! — has told us of his little comforter, the darling 
Wood Thrush. 
" You now see before you my greatest favorite of the feath- 
ered tribes of our woods. To it I owe much. How often 
has it revived my drooping spirits, when I have listened to 
its wild notes in our forest, after passing a restless night in 
my slender shed, so feebly secured against the violence of 
the storm, as to show me the futility of my best efforts to re- 
kindle my little fire, whose uncertain and vacillating light 
had gradually died away under the destructive weight of the 
dense torrents of rain that seemed to involve the heavens and 
the earth in one mass of fearful murkiness, save when the red 
streaks of the flashing thunderbolt burst on the dazzled eye, 
and, glancing along the huge trunk of the stateliest and no- 
blest tree in my immediate neighborhood, were instantly fol- 
lowed by an uproar of cracking, crashing, and deafening 
sounds, rolling their volumes in tumultuous eddies far and 
near, as if to silence the very breathings of the unformed 
thought ! How often, after such a night, when far from my 
dear home, and deprived of the presence of those nearest my 
heart, wearied, hungry, drenched, and so lonely and desolate 
as almost to question myself why I was thus situated, when 
I have seen the fruits of my labors on the eve of being de- 
stroyed, as the water^ collected into a stream, rushed through 
my little camp, and forced me to stand erect, shivering in a 
cold fit like that of a severe ague, when I have been obliged 
to wait, with the patience of a martyr, for the return of day, 
trying in vain to destroy the tormenting musquitoes, si- 
lently counting over the years of my youth, doubting, per- 
haps, if ever again I should return to my home, and em- 
brace my family! — how often, as the first glimpse of 
morning gleamed doubtfully among the dusky masses 
of the forest trees, has there come upon my ear, thrilling 
along the sensitive cords which connect that organ with 
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