The Washington herald., 1914-05-16
lie Rseper..
y ElGOnY .. HAYNRs.

NJ EMonY ;. RAfNRs.
| Turning from the thunder of big guns, listen i
the peepers You know their pretty mssic, do 20,
nctl Whether tadpole or frog or whatever they ma,
be. these small chaps of the water courses are frnl
salypes Of JOY these spring twilights And along tn
shores of ponds in the meadows they seem colonies
| by the million. You who were born in the countr,
can close your eyes and hear them The peeper
"pee-peep, pe-po-peep" as soon as the evening sta
is abiaze above the imeight horizon. Timely herald
of spring. and always audible proof tha. this is afte
all, q very happy world
YET, strange to record, some human beings re-
gard the peppers a melancholy crowd. They ss,
that, to their ears the small music is suggestive o
gloomy thoughts. Probably because the peppers ar.
not children of the sun. They come forth as the
darkness approaches. They luxuriate in the deepen
ing shadows that fall across the meadows and cur.
tain the ponds. And to many persons evening is al;
ways ungrateful and depressing Coufessedly the
peppers do not sing summer song.
1t is an amazing thing, however, when over rural
landscape almost in day such transition sweeps
Yesterday and the stubborn frost and snow made ali
these stretches, seen from my window, dead world
Even the house dog in his little door as night
fell After sundown the silence was melancholy.
But now such multitudinous life is making its
all these long months? No doubt you are all new
millions of you are just arrived on the globe The
creative hand has been very busy, yet saw il not
You are different from wheat and corn which we
men plant and expect to see multiply, yet you seem
to have been sown broadcast along every brook and
pond.
The peppers charm is brief That is very shortly
We may strain ears IN vain for ifs melody As
1t is now one MAY waken and listen and hear it at
any hour of the shortening spring night The lay
break alone quets it. But all this will pass very
soon. There will, literally, "a frog in the
throat The groucy protest of the bullfrog is quite
another thing. And yet the scholar, in all college
towns, chants of him. What memories sweep over
the learned lawyer, clergyman, and other alumni of
the midnight tramp and serenade, to the ringing
music
The bulldog on the bank, -.
The bullfrog in the pool
But all these hoarser voices from the meadow
come later, when the fond little peeper is full grown
Listen and you catch charming variety of the
tiny voices, the generation of little beings
Groundngs, like moes, mtskrats woodchucks and
foxes, are busy and all barking Squirrels are run
ming up and down the trees. They all are vocal No
reason for much talking except to express delight
amusing than to watch a chattezing chipmunk pour
ing out his heart-te-heart talk to a grayer? Do Won
suppose they understand each other the variation be-
ing only like the dialect difference between English
and Scotch? l could never determine. Many times
have watched the red squirrel apparently conversing
with the grayer. Indeed the whole question of inter-
change, by their several languages between different
ANIMALS IS puzzling Does the dog not understand
the den that big saucy gray squirrel throws down
At him, from his safe perch up the tree? The in
erchange of language must be as wide as between
different races of men, My friend the starting talks
freely with robins and crows
Hark! At this moment the peppers are in full
orchestra movement. What does it say? Without
doubt it is expression of happiness infinite if
raced back to the promptngs of each little animals
,eart. There is difference in pitch, in volume of
ound, between individuals. lusty fellow over by
he brook utters louder call than any one down by
he pond. There may be leaders and choristers
mong these choirs. Suddenly, now, the pond con-
ert ceases entirely The interval of silence is pro-
onged for full minute. Is the choirmaster giving
hem rest to take breath? Or is he arranging to
urn the leaves OF new score? The brook people
rise exultant the theater of the night be-
ng exclusively theirs. Now the pond people strike
p and the other singers grow quiet Then it is an
lternation, one answering another. And presently |
10Th are peeping at the same time
Ye aged stars, softly looking down. what do you
ay of all this life? Light from some fixed star,
ust this April arriving for the first time and you
re mirrored in the polished water of the pond |
What vast distance between you, star without a
anne and the scattered peepers of month Yet both
re the creatures of the one God. By this measuring
ne we get some feeble idea of that Creator. How
reat He isl "
/ am looking down on the reflect of the new
xed star in the pond ! am listening also to the
eepers. And l think a reverence that neither
+ these other creatures ever entertains.