stened; and when I think of
the immeasurable life that seems to be groping for utterance in them, I
remember with no consciousness of scepticism that these are the voices
which men once waited upon as oracles; nay, rather, wait upon still;
for am I not now listening for the word which shall speak to me out of
these shadowy depths and this mysterious antique life? I am ready to
listen and to follow if only these vagrant sounds shall blend into one
clear note and declare to me that secret which they have kept so well
through the centuries. I wait expectant, as I have waited so often
before; there is unbroken stillness, then a faint murmur slowly rising
and spreading until I am sure that the moment of revelation has come,
then a slow recession back to silence. I am not discouraged; sooner or
later that multitudinous rustle of the wild woods will break into
clear-voiced speech. I am sure, too, that some great movement of life
is about to display itself before me. Is not this hush the sudden
stillness of those whom I have surprised and who have, on the instant,
sprung to their coverts and are waiting impatiently until I have gone,
to resume their interrupted frolic! I have often watched and waited
here before in vain, but surely to-day I shall beguile these hidden
folk into revelation of that wonderful life they have suddenly
suspended! So I throw myself at the foot of a great pine, and wait;
the minutes move slowly across the unseen dial of the day, and I have
become so still and motionless that I am part of this secluded world.
The sun shines abroad, but I have forgotten it; there are clouds
passing all day in their aerial journeyings, but they cast no shadow
over me; even the flight of the hours is unnoticed. Eternity might
come and I should be no wiser, I should see no change; for does it not
already hold these vast dim aisles and solitudes within its peaceful
empire? And is there not here the slow procession of birth, decay, and
death, in that sublime order of growth which we call immortality?

I wait and watch, and I can wait forever if need be. Suddenly from the
depths of the forest there comes a note of penetrating sweetness, wild,
magical, ethereal; I slowly raise myself and wait. Surely this is the
signal, and in a moment I shall see the dim spaces between the trees
peopled and animate. There is a moment's pause, and then again that
strange, mysterious song rings through the listening forest. It
touche