Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-10

the channel between the waving frngeS
of the grass and the line of usual high
tide, ran a margin of pale yellOwiSh .2.|zs
brown mud flats, baked and scanned 8Hs
with sun cracks, scurfed with wavy T4s4A#(#
deposits of salt, and spotted with meager X K e$3f
tufts of green samphire, goose f& ak48$3
tongue, and sea rosemary. Just at the aAf 3SH&s
edge of the grass fringe old post, HaS&sN@
weather beaten and time eaten, stood &E@eEyXlH
up, solitary sentinel the waste, NKlk8d&&
reminder of time when this point of 33{1&4
the river had been little haven for Il. H8f
fishing boats-a haven long since filled b. ~
up by the caprice of the memorable silt. MI N3E
Some forty fifty PAGES straight ll5l4&AA-
back from the moldering post low = :;
! ! : { ]. !
spur of upland, darkly wooded with -
spruce and fir, jutted out into the vel $50
lOw-green of grass. Off to the left MI
some hundred yards away W. A&RE@
line of round topped dixie, with few MAXI
stiff mullen stalks fringing its crest. Be wv MI8
yond the dixie, and long ago reclaimed u -
by it from the sea, lay basking in the 8D
the vast expanSeS of sweet-grass I3NEU53 so
meadow, blue green with timothy. RlHx& II
clover, and VetCh, and hummed over 3s y
by innumerable golden belted humble II
bees Through this sweet meadow 5&N
wound the slow curves of placid and zen
trimming fresh water stream, joining FhX Ht2%a
itself at last to the parent river through uik44&
a suiceway in the dixie, whose sunken ~ ~
valves protected it completely from the
fluctuations of the tides.
The dividing line between the TALL
waving yellow salt grass and the naked
mud fiat sharp as if cut by
dikers spade, and it frnged by close brown tan
the baked mud and then curl back upon themselves in
apprehension.
Close to the foot of the molderng post where this
fringe half encirced it, appeared suddenly pointed
brOwnish head, with tiny and pair of little,
bright beadke eyes set very close together The head
thrust cautiously forth from the mouth of
tunnel under the grass roots The sharp overhung
muzzle, with nostrils dating and quvering interro
gated the peous outer air. the bead eyes searched the
sky, the grass fringe, the baking open of the flat.
There danger in sight; but just in 'front.' some
fa1t 61cf0 0ar16xy
bold venture bent was making his slow way across the
scurfed mud from one goosetongue tuft to another.
The pointed head shot swiftly forth from the tunnel
followed by ruddy brown body. Straight out
the bright naked space, and back again. like darling
shuttle into the hole-and the rashy adventuring
caterpillar had disappeared.
little way back from the edge of the flats notified
brown marsh hawk flying hither and thither. His
wings shorter and broader than those of most
members of his swift marauding race and he flew flap
ping almost like crow instead of gliding, skimming
and soaring after the of his arStocratic
kindred. He flew close above the swaying grass tops
his head thrust downward and his hard unwinkng eyes
peerng fercely down between the ranked stems
of the broad leaf grass. He quartered the meadow
section by section, closely and methodicay we'll
into the grass, abruptly if he had been shot, and
when, instant later, he rose again. with great buff
feting of grass tops he cutching tiny gray
object in his taons. Had one been enough see
it would have proved, probably, to be young shrew
Whatever it was, it small to be worth carrying
off to his high perch on the dead pine tree beyond the
r1dge OF the upanQS lie new Win IL 10 the open crest
of the dixie close by where he tore it and swallowed it
in savage gups. Then having wiped his beak on the
sod he dropped off the dixie and resumed his assiduous
quartering of the salt grass
A BOUT this time the little brown pointed head with
the bead eyes reappeared in the mouth of the
mel by the foot OF the post Everything seemed safe
The samphire and the goosetongue tufts, paely gn-
mering in the sun, full of salt loving, heat loving
insects. Warily the ruddy brown body behind the
pointed head slipped forth from the tunnel darted
to the nearest tut where it began nosng sharply and
swapping up small game.
The marsh mouse a sturdy little figure, about
in 1enoth dull brown bacL,