1 14 AS THEY TAKE THEIR FLIGHT 
takes the scales from eyes which have been mercifully 
deprived of sight, lest the crowding multitude of 
objects in the streets excite a wearied brain to dis- 
traction* Once the lost sense is restored, the trail of 
the Muskrat, the print of the Squirrel's foot on the 
sandy bank of the creek, the scars where the Porcu- 
pine gnawed the Beech, or the Deer rubbed the 
velvet from his horns, the nimble disappearance of 
Creepers and Warblers, and the many traces of 
nature's activity are seen with all their old distinctness* 
In the abomination of city vapours nature has 
dulled the sense of smell, but it is restored with the 
blended odours of the Pine, the Birch, the Sassafras, 
and the Balm-of-Gilead. The myriad noises jarring 
on the ear have caused a happy deadening of the sense 
of hearing, but out in the heart of the woods the old 
discernment is restored, and the liquid notes of the 
Hermit Thrush away in the distance arrest and hold 
the keenest attention* Every sense is on the alert, 
that none of nature's manifold gifts be wasted* All 
her aspects are studied with the closest interest* 
Every tree and every flower becomes a new revelation* 
We feel that the great treasure-house is gone, but 
prise all the more highly the remnants of wealth that 
remain* Even the suburban ravines, marshes, and 
woods, where wild life, driven from former habita- 
tions, finds shelter in the indifference of a city, take 
on the charm of the primeval forest* There we can 
