ur
of vital sympathy with the careless play of children. The Marquis du
Paty de l'Huitre may espouse the daughter and heiress of the Honourable
James Bulger with all imaginable pomp, if he will. CA NE M'INTRIGUE
POINT DU TOUT. I would rather stretch myself out on the grass and watch
yonder pair of kingbirds carrying luscious flies to their young ones in
the nest, or chasing away the marauding crow with shrill cries of anger.

What a pretty battle it is, and in a good cause, too! Waste no pity on
that big black ruffian. He is a villain and a thief, an egg-stealer, an
ogre, a devourer of unfledged innocents. The kingbirds are not afraid of
him, knowing that he is a coward at heart. They fly upon him, now from
below, now from above. They buffet him from one side and from the other.
They circle round him like a pair of swift gunboats round an antiquated
man-of-war. They even perch upon his back and dash their beaks into
his neck and pluck feathers from his piratical plumage. At last his
lumbering flight has carried him far enough away, and the brave little
defenders fly back to the nest, poising above it on quivering wings for
a moment, then dipping down swiftly in pursuit of some passing insect.
The war is over. Courage has had its turn. Now tenderness comes into
play. The young birds, all ignorant of the passing danger, but always
conscious of an insatiable hunger, are uttering loud remonstrances and
plaintive demands for food. Domestic life begins again, and they that
sow not, neither gather into barns, are fed.

Do you suppose that this wondrous stage of earth was set, and all the
myriad actors on it taught to play their parts, without a spectator in
view? Do you think that there is anything better for you and me to do,
now and then, than to sit down quietly in a humble seat, and watch a few
scenes in the drama? Has it not something to say to us, and do we not
understand it best when we have a peaceful heart and free from dolor?
That is what IN-DOLENCE means, and there are no better teachers of it
then the light-hearted birds and untoiling flowers, commended by the
wisest of all masters to our consideration; nor can we find a more
pleasant pedagogue to lead us to their school than a small, merry brook.

And this was what our chosen stream did for us. It was always luring us
away from an artificial life into restful companionship with nature.

Suppose, for example, we found ourselves growing a bit dissatisfied
with