The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1922-06-15

tie change is 10 come, is that 1t shall
come quickly.
Primitive Patch Near Washington.
There Is a little stOut-rOofed,
stout-sided, one-roomed cabin on the
top of rocky hill overlooking the
Potomac river for many miles from
Washington. 1t is fine place to
90 when the senate Is discussing
the tariff, because the change gives
one full opportunity to learn that
there is something interesting ana
beautiful left in this world Of ours,
The soil Of the island hill on which
the cabin stands seemingly is poor, but
from it the wild flowers spring readily
and the trees rise sturdily finding
foothold and sustenance where both
seem impossible, The birds and sew
eral species Of mammals have claimed
the place for their own, but they have
shown no resentment of the intrusion
Of the few persons who on occasion
seek out the spot, for the human visi'
tors are kindly disposed toward all
forms of the wild life.
You tramp along a smooth highway
to reach the base of the hill on which
the cabin stands. 1t is a fine walk.
bordered with the things which nature
gives to man in the hope that he will
show appreciation; and she gives them
year after year, nothing discounte-
nanced by the fact that only one man
in fifty gives a nod of recognition for
her bounty.
The locusts and the tulip trees,
heavy with flowers and almost too
heavy with perfume, line part of the
way. Then there are cedars and dog
wood and sycamores and plane trees
and naples. The redbirds and the
Knockers and the catbrds and the
brown thrashers and the Carolina
wrens and the occasional meadow
larks, to say nothing Of the humber |
singers in homespun, find things TO
their liking by the roadside.
Birds All Along the Way.
One traveller along the way who had
thought that the bird life Of the dis
trict was not so abundant as the bird |
life of other places, found himself in
gross ornithological error. Perhaps |
there was congregation of the song |
sters especially assembled to drive
home knowledge Of the mistake, but, |
be this as 1t may, the birds were there |
in hundreds and every bird had a tune |
in its throat.
Almost at the outset of the walk |
along the road Il robins note was
heard in a plane tree. Only the casual |
eye was turned to the robin, for robins |.
and their notes are as plentiful in the
District Of Columbia as they are in /.
northern Illinois, but it was not a
robtn it was a hooking bird, which |.
somewhere had caught the "cheer-up' .
note of our red-breasted friend, and /
wars trying 1t for himself.
He tried it three times and then
stopped to begin again, with the I'M
querulous, half-snarling
note that the catbird occasionally /.
throws into the midst of its music. .
The mocker was dissatisfied, perhaps, |
with his catbird performance, for he
stopped that as he had his robin song F.
and then refused fatty to sing any
more.
The trail from the meadow to the /.
cabin on the hilltop mounts up and up |
a rocky climbing way, but it is over
cast with shade, and there is no law |
to forbid resting on every inviting
stone that marks the path. The last
of the wild flowers just now are bloom
ing. The blue splderworts are every
where. The name is not attractive, but |
the flower is.
Thick Moss and Ancient Trees.
The moss grows thick in places, a .