3 4 heavy along the hori'zon,' and creep with subtle and insensible approaches to the věry zenith; but there are a score of white-winged swimmers afloat, that your eye has chased, as you lay fatigued with the delicious languor of an April sun ;-nor have you scarce noticed that a little bevy of those floating clouds had grouped together in a somber company. 5 12. But presently you see, across the fields, the dark gray streaks stretching, like lines of mists, from the green bosom of the valley, to that spot of sky where the company of clouds is loitering; and, with an easy shifting of the helm,' the fleet of swimmers come drifting over you, and drop their burden into the dancing pools, and make the flowers glisten, and the eaves drip with their crystal bounty. The cattle linger still, cropping the new-come grass; and childhood laughs" joyously at the warm rain;-or, under the cottage roof, cătches, with eager ear, the patter of its fall. DONALD G. MITCHELL. 2. The clouds around the mountain tops Their trailing ăzure" trains of mist 1 Ho ri' zon, the circle which bounds that part of the earth's surface which may be seen by a person from a given place; the place where the earth and sky seem, to the beholder, to meet. 5 Běv' y, a flock of birds; a collection or company. • Som'ber, dull; dusky; gloomy; cloudy; sad. 7 'Hělm, the instrument by which a vessel is steered; here means di 2 Subtile, (sut' 1), sly in design; rection given to the clouds. artful; cunning. 3 Zenith, the point in the sky directly overhead. Score, twenty; any indefinite number. T 3. The snow-drifts, which have lain so long, Like guilty ghosts' have slipp'd ǎway, 4. The streams are fed with generous rains, And flutter down from crag to crag, 5. Through all the long wet nights they brawl," Till woodmen in their sleep behold 6. The lazy wheel, that hung so dry Whirls wildly in the misty dark, And through the miller's dream. Flashing afar their spectral light, 8. They meet, and though the lowlands sweep, "The country is āwāke!” III. THOMAS BUCHANAN READ. 3. BIRDS OF SPRING. THOSE who have passed the winter in the country, are sensible of the delightful influences that accompany the earliest indications of spring; and of these, none are more delightful than the first notes of the birds. 2. The appearance of the blue-bird, so poëtically yet truly described by Wilson, gladdens the whole landscape. You hear his soft warble in every field. He sociably approaches your habitation, and takes up his residence in your vicinity.' 3. The happiest bird of our spring, however, and one that rivals the European lark, in my estimation, is the Boblincon, or Boblink, as he is commonly called. He arrives at this choice portion of the year, which, in this latitude, answers to the description of the month of May, so often given by the poëts. With us it begins about the middle of May, and lasts until nearly the middle of June. 4. Earlier than this, winter is apt to return on its traces, and to blight the opening beauties of the year; and later than this, begin the parching, and panting, and dissolving heats of summer. But, in this genial' interval, nature is in all her freshnèss and fragrance: "the rains are over and gone, the flowers appear upon the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle' is heard in the land." 5. The trees are now in their fullèst foliage and brightest verdure; the woods are gay with the clustered flowers of the laurel; the air is perfumed' by the sweet-brier and the wildrose; the meadows are enameled with clover-blossoms; while the young apple, the peach, and the plum begin to swell, and the cherry to glow, among the green leaves. 6 6. This is the chosen season of revelry of the boblink. He comes amidst the pomp and fragrance of the season; his life seems all sensibility' and enjoyment, all song and sunshine. He is to be found in the soft bosoms of the freshest and sweetest meadows; and is most in song when the clover is in blossom. He perches on the topmost twig of a tree, or on some long, flaunting weed, and, as he rises and sinks with the breeze, pours forth a succession of rich, tinkling notes; crowding one upon another, like the outpouring melody' of the sky-lark, and possessing the same rapturous" character. 1 Vi cin' i ty, that which is near; neighborhood. 2 Blight, to mildew, injure, or destroy. 'Ge' ni al, joyous and awakening joy or happiness; productive. 'Fragrance, sweetness of smell. 5 Turtle, (têr tl), here means a dove or pigeon; the turtle-dove. 6 ' Rěv′ el ry, extreme animal en joyment; noisy feasting. 'Sěn`si bil' i ty, state of being easily affected; delicacy of feeling. Flaunting, (flånting), spreading out loosely; showy. 'Měl o dy, sweet singing; pleas ing song. 1 Răpt' ur ous, very joyous. 7. Sometimes he pitches from the summit of a tree, begins his song as soon as he is upon the wing, and flutters tremulously down to the earth, as if overcome with ecstasy' at his own music. Sometimes he is in pursuit of his paramour; always in full song, as if he would win her by his melody; and always with the same appearance of intoxication3 and delight. 4 8. Of all the birds of our groves and meadows, the boblink was the envy of my boyhood. He crossed my path' in the sweetèst weather, and the sweetest season of the year, when all nature called to the fields, and the rural feeling throbbed in every bosom ; but when I, lucklèss urchin! was doomed to be mewed up, during the livelong day, in that purgatory' of boyhood, a school-room, it seemed as if the little varlet mocked' at me, as he flew by in full song, and sought to taunt me with his happier lot. Oh, how I envied him! No lessons, no tasks, no hateful school; nothing but holiday, frolic, green fields, and fine weather! 10 9. Further observation and experience have given me ǎ different idea of this little feathered voluptuary," which I will venture to impart for the benefit of my school-boy readers, who may regard him with the same unqualified envy and admiration which I once indulged. I have shown him only as I saw him at first, in what I may call the poëtical part of his career, when he in a manner devoted himself to elegant pursuits and enjoyments, and was a bird of music, and song, and taste, and sensibility, and refinement.1 While this lasted, he was sacred from injury; the very school-boy would not fling a stone at him, and the merèst rustic would pause to listen to his strain. But mark the difference. Rural, (ro' ral), belonging to or what is coarse, rough, inelegant, or suiting the country the like. 10. As the year advances, as the clover-blossoms disappear, and the spring fades into summer, his notes cease to vibrate1 on the ear. He gradually gives up his elegant tastes and habits, doffs his poetical and professional suit of black, assumes a russet or rather dusty garb,' and enters into the gross enjoyments of common, vulgar birds. He becomes a bon-vivant," a mere gormand; thinking of nothing but good cheer, and gormandizing on the seeds of the long grasses on which he lately swung, and chanted so musically. 11. He begins to think there is nothing like "the joys of the table," if I may be allowed to apply that convivial' phrase to his indulgences. He now grows discontented with plain, evèryday fare, and sets out on a gastronom'ical tour' in search of foreign luxuries. He is to be found in myriads' among the reeds of the Delaware, banqueting" on their seeds; grows corpulent" with good feeding, and soon acquires the unlucky renown of the or'tolan.' Wherever he goes, pop! pop! pop! the rusty firelocks of the country are cracking on every side; he sees his companions falling by thousands around him; he is the reed-bird, the much sought for tid-bit" of the Pennsylvanian epicure." 12 12. Does he take warning, and reform? Not he. He wings his flight still farther south, in search of other luxuries. We hear of him gorging himself in the rice-swamps; filling himself Vi' brate, move backward and that which is delightful to the forward; quiver. senses. ' Myr' iad, the number of ten thousand; any very great number. 10 Banqueting, (bångk' wet ing), feasting; indulging one's self freely with good eating and drinking. 11 Cor pu lent, fat; large. 12 Ortolan, (år' to lan), a singing bird, about the size of the lark, found in the southern part of Europe, and particularly in the Island of Cyprus, esteemed a great delicacy as food. 13 Tid' bit, a delicate morsel. |