BY THE WAYSIDE 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 27, 1911. 
.Dear Wayside:— 
I know the meadow-lark very well. 
_^ast night I saw one. It was on the 
op-most twig of an old oak tree. It 
vas singing. One day last spring as I 
,.vas walking through a piece of land 
vhere the grass was very high I saw a 
neadow-lark. I thought that maybe she 
lad a nest around there so I looked 
round. I looked for a long time but 
finally I found it. The nest was made 
fiery nicely. In it were three eggs. I 
lid not go there for quite a while. When 
! did g'o the nest was empty. 
Your friend, 
Annie Morrill. 
I Vge 12 years. 
Mazomanie, Wis., April 27, 1911. 
vIy Dear Wayside :— 
We have a little creek below our school 
. 
ouse. C'ne day my friend and I went 
own to the creek to look for frogs’ eggs. 
found a little bunch of them on a 
mb in the water; I picked them up with 
stick and put them in a can. I took 
hem home, and I am going to watch 
lem. Every morning when I look at 
icm they are bigger. 
When two or three of them hatch I 
dll take them to the creek ag'ain. 
We have a pail full of frogs’ eggs in 
fur school-room window now. 
Yours truly, 
Malle Shower, 
vge 12. Mazomanie, Wis. 
“A nobler want of man is served by 
jature, namely, the love of Beauty. * * 
j o the body and 1 mind which have been 
ramped by noxious work or company, 
ature is medicinal and restores their 
me. The tradesman, the attorney comes 
95 
out of the din and craft of the street, 
and sees the sky and the woods, and is 
a man again. In their eternal calm, he 
finds himself. The health of the eye 
seems to demand a horizon. We are 
never tired, so long as we can see far 
enough. * * Beauty is the mark God 
sets upon virtue. Every natural action 
is graceful. Every heroic act is also de¬ 
cent, and causes the place and the by¬ 
standers to shine. We are taught by 
great actions that the universe is the 
property of every individual in it.” 
. —Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
The bird realm has already taken on 
many of its summer characteristics. 
Once more the red-headed wood-pecker 
is busily hunting grubs in the dead limbs. 
The flicker has prepared for his house¬ 
hold duties. The robin and bluebird 
have already begun the rearing of the 
nestlings. 
In the meadow the meadowlark and 
bobolink are brightly singing. The king¬ 
bird once more is perching on some 
branch from which he can see any insect 
or intruding hawk, ever ready to inflict 
the penalty on both. 
Once more the catbird and thrasher 
haunt the thickets and delight us with 
their varied songs. Soon the chippy and 
the song sparrow will have laid their 
eggs in their cozy nests. In the morn¬ 
ing, the oriole flashes through the trees, 
resplendent in his garb of black and 
golden orange. 
Again the swallows throng over the 
lakes and marshes in their ceaseless quest 
of insects. Again the bitterns and her¬ 
ons are fishing along the shores and the 
rails more often heard than seen, «jo 
7 7 0 
skulking through the shady tangle of the 
swamp. 
