The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-07-07
Life i'll the Woods.

ZEN PICTURES OF \ PICTURESQUE SCENE.
WITH TIE BIRDS ALONG THE UPPER Pc
NoB>CUT. VIVID DESCRIPTION BY A
LOVER OF NATURE.
The following communication was pre-
Jared for The Boston Journal by a Bos-
ION gentleman who spent the past winter
months in Maine: and it is fair to suppose
HAT the brilliant and original word paint
M OF natures charms and mysteries
will be agreeable to many to whom the
forests and streams are never failing
source of delight 1t is seldom that these
InalVels are viewed with greater force OF
penetration than in this instance:
Long have we wood dwellers lain under
this enchantment of snow One morning
ia November. clear. after clouds and rain,
katahslin shone forth to us, all in white
ness OF new snow. | had gone early TO
The river bank to see the dark opposite
shore made liquid and trembling in the
water. And there was the mountain violet
n expectancy of light la the first level
sun rays the violet grew rosy then vel
low. the white-ycllow of distant snow
lore our wonder had ceased, the snow
,ame to us and filed the woods with its
white hush. Daily, since. my feet have
made new path in this sky-fallen sub
stance F. this watel-yapor thrilled into
sparkling stars by ecstasy of cold.
Dense and dark stand the trees about
rs. There is none of the winter naked
ness OF oak and chestnut woods. Pines,
close fingered. black and white spruceS,
rapering fins, arbor vitHS with scanty rag
gedness OF leaves, hemlocks-theSe in
heir closeness shield us from the wind
\ snow storm among them makes Fairy
land. For however swift the wind above.
beneath there is almost complete calm
and the flakes fall unhurledlN, thridding
tllelr green way with a faint ruStling. The
young evergreens and the lower limbs of
rhe greater ones become heavy with ever
thickeninW white nantes. Stunps are
buried and their places marked by high
snow caps. Great fallen trees become
mere rounded ridges of snow As the
afternoon of this first snow storm dark
ems, | walk homeward with mutfied feet
and eyes not yet used to the new mystery
The earth we shall not see again until May
flowers are ready to open their pinkness,
Tor the snow in the woods deepens until
April and south winds bring rain.
Then the mornings of cold clearness
when the SIN and the trees enter INTO
sweet conspiracy to dapple and streak the
snow with white CLEAN and violet shadow.
If there be a light wind, snow is continu-
ally shaking down from above in sun
sparkling fall; and am showered, if | but
touch a tree in my walking There seems
not creature stirring now; yet see the
record of the night Tracks of the hares
are everywhere: here the printed leaps
IF a single aimless fellow, there where
several have travelled the same path and
stopped to bite Off twigs of the little
naples and poplars. These hares are
homeless and spend their days crouched
in the snow beneath a low evergreen.
have walked slowly to within ann length
N one-a dim gray-white creature with
large, dark eyes When fear is in their
leaps they can scarcely be seen against the
SHOW. Then here the light treading of !,
fox who has shown some interest in Il del
icate marking of the SHOW, the faintest of
all tracks. This is where a mouse has climb
ed mp from the chambers below, scam
pered ten feet and gone down again at the
side of some guiding twig. Squirrels hasty
tracks become common in March, Some
times the deliberate printing of Il porcu-
pine, OF the furrow left by an otter, and
pften the deep plunging of a deer slen-
der legs. But there come days in March
when even | can leave no mark when the
north wind has come after moist warmth.
The snow is frozen firmly. Two weeks
ago walked for miles on a kind of reso-
nant white marble.
1t is the birds that are our ay-stirrers.
L.S nf II if.l- IL
in full BREATH in short flight from tree
10 tree. They are never still, but ever
sweeten the air with their lispings. Head
downward now, plucking the winged
hemlock seeds from their cones. Now
they drop, with little rustling wings, to
CLEAN the seeds they have shaken down,
speaking the snow. One of their spring
time songs is high, clear whistle, 'Phoe-
bee, Phoe- bee Purer and softer than
the wind about a stretched cord. so eager
are they for it they are quick to come and
answer its poorest imitation. ! have
drawn t1ocks about me even on dark, cold
days, excited them by those whistled
thoughts of spring, and heard them go on
their slow way into the green silence, an
swering each other, my whistle no longer
needed. Bluejays are a fine bit of color,
and their voices, too, not unwelcome
Their relatives, the Canada jays, are gray,
quiet birds. with flight so gentle and
etfortless as to charm the eye. In snow
storms walk along the frozen river and
look into the meadows for those animated
lakes, the white snow buntings. Fol-
Gown they come in wheeling flight with
the very snow. They run to the golden
rods, neck deep in the wilderness, and
shake at the fluffy seeds. Disturbed, they
rise in quick flight, showing their black
barred wings, and burst into ripple OF
twittering, sounding like a little beach
wave half breaking over the shadows. Al
night far-off owl boots unanswered, and
perhaps next day in the woods ] see by
e