Though blithe of voice, so shy you are, What splendid playmates you and I, There, you are gone! but far away We'd be such merry rangers; What! silent now, and hidden too? "Bob White," don't let's be strangers. Perhaps you teach your brood the game, While winds are playing with the leaves, “Bob White! Bob White!" again I hear "He calleth and calleth year by year, Now there, now here; Ever He maketh the way appear.” Dear little birds, He calleth me Would that I might as trusting be! - Harriet McEwen Kimball. THE STORMY PETREL. THIS is the bird that sweeps o'er the sea — Fearless and rapid and strong is he; He never forsakes the billowy roar, To dwell in calm on the tranquil shore, Save when his mate, from the tempest's shocks, Protects her young in the splintered rocks. Birds of the sea, they rejoice in storms; On the top of the wave you may see their forms; All over the ocean, far from land, When the storm-king rises dark and grand, The fathomless waves with steady feet, And a tireless wing and a dauntless breast, So, mid the contest and toil of life, My soul! when the billows of rage and strife Are tossing high, and the heavenly blue THE THE STORMY PETREL. HE lark sings for joy in her own loved land, In the furrowed sea, As joyous and glad as the lark can be. On the placid breast of the inland lake The wild ocean waves, His wing in the foaming billow he laves. The halcyon loves in the noontide beam In the summer breeze, But we go angling in stormiest seas. No song-note have we but a piping cry, That blends with the storm when the wind is high. When the land-birds wail We sport in the gale, And merrily over the ocean we sail. - Selected. THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS. HITHER away, robin, WHITHI Is it through envy of the maple-leaf, Whose blushes mock the crimson of thy breast, The summer days were long, yet all too brief Whither away, bluebird, The blast is chill, yet in the upper sky Warbler, why speed thy Southern flight? ah, why, Whither away, swallow, Canst thou no longer tarry in the North, Here, where our roof so well hath screened thy nest? Not one short day? Wilt thou as if thou human wert go forth And wanton far from them who love thee best? Whither away? - Edmund Clarence Stedman. Dow OWN drop the painted leaves; wounded, cold and bare; Piled are the golden sheaves, And passed is every object sweet and fair. Now faded are the flowers, And grass on sloping hills and tranquil dales; And songless are the bowers, Where lovers came and breathed their secret tales. The fruits are ripe and gone; The fields have lost their wealth and vernal cheer; The stars throw smiles upon The full-armed gleaners of the harvest year. Winds come with chilling breath; Rains fall, and brooks from woods begin to rise; And birds take flight for warmth of Southern skies. There's nothing bright nor fair, Save fields of wheat that wear their cloaks of green; There's nothing in the air But chill, where rays of gold and love have been. The seed of change was sown Through months, by viewless hands, in field and town; And Autumn, near his throne, Lets fall his crowded horn and brazen crown. |