Page:Rural Hours.djvu/466

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420
RURAL HOURS.

with us, and return to still cooler regions as the warm weather approaches. These are the white-throat, a pretty bird; the white-crowned sparrow, more rare; the fox-colored sparrow; and the tree-sparrow, like those we saw this morning. Thus at all seasons these little creatures are near to tell us of the direct and immediate care of Providence; they run about our doors as we come in and go out; they rise from their grassy nests in the open field; they sing to us from the thickets and bushes; we find them by the bank of the river; on the sea-shore; and as one party goes with the falling leaves of autumn, they are succeeded by others who perch among the naked branches, and remain through the cheerless winter. Each of these humble flocks as it crosses our path, whether in the storm or in the sunshine, may remind us of the same sublime truth, that they and we are ever under the care of our merciful Father in heaven, never forgotten before God.

Monday, 11th.—Very mild. A dull day closed with a cheering sunset; the clouds, in waving folds of gray, covered the whole heavens; but as the sun dropped low, he looked in upon us, and immediately the waves of vapor were all tinged with red, dark and rich beyond the pines of Sunset Hill, and paler, but still flushed, to the farthest point of the horizon.

Another little sparrow flew past us, as we were walking this afternoon.

Tuesday, 12th.—Mild, but cooler; frost last night. Long walk in the woods. Much green fern still in many places, although it is no longer erect. We have had only one fall of snow, and that a light one; but the fern is already lying on the ground, prostrate, as in spring. Adjoining these fresh leaves of the dif-