224 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
lutely necessary for mere existence; and how 
it exalts our conception of the goodness of the 
Divine Father to notice that when he made the 
eye and the ear he so graciously provided for 
the gratification of both! It has ever seemed 
that a grove with feathered songsters in full 
chorus was the richest token of God’s purpose 
to give the fullest delight to man. It is, per¬ 
haps, the nearest approach of material joys to 
the character of celestial blessedness—beauty, 
song, and pure emotions. The sight and song 
of birds excite no grovelling, sensuous passions, 
beget no unhealthy cravings, impel to no evil 
associations. They rather lead the mind away 
from whatever is gross, and draw the heart pow¬ 
erfully upward. Joyous devotion is the keynote 
of the bird’s melody, and happy is he who can 
catch the true chord of the strain. 
*‘Oh the delicious days spent in field and 
grove watching their winged inhabitants and 
listening to their sweet, joyous warblings! The 
happy singers seemed to understand the loving 
interest taken in their innocent pastimes, and 
fluttered the more freely over the head of the 
gratified observer, and twittered with a richer 
cadence as they dallied for closer inspection 
