FOREST AND STREAM 
719 
The Wood Hollow Days 
I N this I do not refer to our human neighbors, 
but rather to neighbors, feathered and 
furred, it was our good luck to assure ourselves 
an acquaintanceship with. Perhaps there is no 
time in the round of the seasons when we can 
so appreciate these friends of the wild so much, 
as when late fall, or winter is come. Then prac¬ 
tically all of the feathered minions are fled to 
the sensuous southlands, and but relatively few 
remain to awaken the silences of the woods with 
their pleasant voices. It is 'by reason of their 
scarcity that our attention is steadily riveted to 
their presence and there is hardly a man but can 
find abundant interest in them. Early upon our 
coming to Wood Hollow Cabin I hung up my 
VI—.The Wood Hollow Neighbors 
By Robert Page Lincoln. 
suet and other delicate luxuries for the chicka¬ 
dees and their inseparable mates, the various 
members of the woodpecker family. It had been 
my heartfelt wish that I should be able to woo to 
my hand, in perfect faith and comradeship some 
appreciative tom-tit, black-capped minstrel, and 
reliever of the cold, dismal gloom of the mid¬ 
winter. At this assertion Fred had shown his 
doubt. He did not believe it possible that I could 
make a chickadee so fearless that it would even¬ 
tually hop down and rest on my head or on my 
finger. I now meant to do this or die in the at¬ 
tempt. To live close and inseparably with Nature 
is to assure first, and last of all the instilling into 
one’s very life a perfect placidity of mind, un¬ 
harmful, and pleasantly, confidentially condo-* 
scending. I early found out in my very close 
attachment to Nature that only by the acquire¬ 
ment of this great gift could I become a total 
friend of the birds and animals. Thus, in near¬ 
ing a bird, I found that by my eyes could an ani¬ 
mal or bird tell just what I would do if I were 
allowed to come too near. Therefore I must 
think only broadminded, friendly thoughts. A 
hard thought crossing the mind instantly glazes 
the eye with a certain, overwhelming hardness, 
sometimes more sinister than a person would 
think. To soften the eyes is a process that is 
very hard to acquire. The following of poetry, 
(Continued on page 736.) 
Peek a Boo! 
