The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-09
WO0D-FEARS.
They Are Proofs That Nature Is
Strange to Us.

Strange to Us.
Unless we live in the country, the
woods play but small part in our lives.
We see them only in the summer holt
DAYS, perhaps not even then; we become
as strangers to their beauty, and for
longer or shorter periods forget to think
of them. And yet, aside from all phys
ical consequences, what dreary world
it would be were there no forests, Our
thought would be parched and restless.
and, so to speak, without eyelids. The
busiest and most pers silently urban
among us would lose an horizon rcstful
to the eve, curtain of green and
peaceful recollectionS.
To the wild creatures who inhabit If,
the wood is full of terrors. 1t s at once
a covert and 4 snare, a place of refuge
and of lurking danger. The tree that
shelters the small bird conccal5 the
movements of his enemy, the owl, the
SOU rrel, or the black snake; there il
protection beneath the underbrush. but
no gertrude as 10 what lies on the other
side of its LEAKAGE. Every thing in the
wood appears to be in a perpetual state
of watchfulncSs or of easily routed So
curity. The sparrow BY the roadside
will accept Won for listener, if YOU
keep within bounds of the auditorium;
transgress them little, and he meas
ures off another dozen feet TO the next
post, and begins the concert afreSh.
The chipmunk, after his first start and
scurry, pau>es to eye the intruder before
slipping into his hole, and the glance is
often an assured one. But the wood
bird and squirrel have no low curiosity
and no desire to be seen; they are up
and away a. the first alarm. The only
birds who are careless OF 4 new presence
in the woods are the tiny warblers and
fly-catching tribes, who live first floor
below the stars and take small note of
events IN the rez-de- chaussee, and the
chickadce, who brings in from orchard
and pasture a fund of cheerful audacity
to lie paid out among the shadows.
Do not we ourselves, on entering the
wood, take on certain increase OF sus-
ceptibility and alcrtness analogous to
this deepencd tim;ditv and caution Of
the birds? Have We no wOod-fcars
They may be definite and substantial or
altogether vague, but ! think that most
of us have felt some quaver of this in
nate distrust, this readiness to take alarm
in the forest ''Sec his little breast
heave," | once said. pointing out to
startled maiden chipmunk. who, in the
furry of his own terror, had been the
cause of hers. Il don wonder at it, >
she replied, fervently. "Minc does.
There are al degrees of this sensitive
ness, according 10 the tincnesS or cult
Walton OF the mag nation. There are
people who suspect every unfamiliar
leaf or berry Of malicious intent TO poison
them, who VIII hardly pluck a flower
without challenge, and are more wary
of drink NO at 81 mountain stream than
of imbibing the filtered liquid which
usurpS the name of water in the city.
And country rcople haze more shrink
ings and small supcrstitiOnS. albeit of
homeiicr and more abSOlvable sort, than
the most urban of eNcrs oniStS. TIL,
children, on return ne from day Der
ryiug, or ''plumm nc, rs they quantity
call it in some PARTS. report of
hearing bear in the forest border. and
are half convinced that their escape
to the sunlight has been a mar
row one. TOads and snakes are not
looked upon with more favor by those
nearest TO the 7 hauntS. What a vener-
able cult is that fear of snakes 1t is
rs old rs the Oldest religion; it is so
widespread that we can almost call it
universal, and has roots so deep that it
is impossible to tell whether they are
fast ned in instinct or in trad.t on.
The fact that it is shared by b ris and
other animals pc ntS 10 the former
source: but if the feeling had lot its
rise in tradition. il has certainly been
among the most potent factors in Gre
ating it The vivid emeralds and har-
monious wood-t'ntS of the snake, his
patterned spots and stripes, his repro
QucUion in almost every movement of
Hogarth' line of beauty, win for him
no admiration. Even his innocence is
no Sl 'elS to him: the world Will not be
brought TO believe it. Take away his
iaIgs aud reduce him to a puny size,
the aversion he inspires is there all the
sans: illogil al yet merad,cable.
Thus it is with the majority of the
selections which | term wood-fears
AfazIrom ali vulgar, tangible appre-
hension Of being bitten or stung, there
exists a host of tiny intangible fear
lets" which tease our imaginations or
Turk unsupported in the background of
our consciousness. Alone in the forest,
we listen and keep Il lookout; there is
course to be shapod;. we are alive to
every whisper; we startle the partridge.
and are startled by him in turn. An
unexplained noise has everywhere an
pafriendiy sound, and under the trees
i;oises do not so readily explain them
selves Us in the opeh country The very