,
Beechworth, Sumachford, Nutham, trembled from centre to circumference.
There were hurried consultations, desperate resolutions rejected as soon
as adopted, eager inventories taken of domestic property, and a fearful
looking-for of coming calamity. For, on the fine September morning when
the sun poured out golden showers, and Leafland sat fair and smiling in
robes of green, and so the whole universe was golden-green, there came a
messenger flying from the North country,--a wandering Wood-thrush,
deserted, draggled, and forlorn, faltering on weary wing through the
lovely lanes of Leafland. The men begged him to tarry; the women
promised him the daintiest tidbit in the sweetest bower on the sunniest
bough; and the little Leaf-people clapped their tiny hands, and danced
on the tips of their tiny toes for glee. For so admirably managed in
Leafland are the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Foreign
Affairs, that you might think the Leaflanders had solved the great
problem of universal brotherhood. The stranger that is within their
gates is all one with him who is bone of their bone and flesh of their
flesh. No sooner does a foreigner enter their borders, than he is
presented with the freedom of all their cities. They provide for his
wants, protect him from danger, and cherish his home as tenderly as if
he were one of themselves. Robin the Red-breast and shy little Veery,
Pewee the plaintive and cheerful Chewink, Long-sparrow, Bluebird, and
sweet Chickadee, all glide freely in and out of their green and golden
halls, flit through their winding streets, and take part in all their
delights. Nor have the Leaflanders any trouble to understand
bird-language. They have not, like the old Ger-men, eaten the hearts of
birds, but by a more excellent way have they entered into all their
secrets. Through long summer days and the silence of dewy nights, they
lean so lovingly over them, they stir so softly around the still
bird-cradles, they coo so tenderly to the sweet egg-nestlings and the
helpless baby-birds, that one heart-language springs up between them,
and shines familiarly through all foreign phrase. Nor is it the birds
alone who take out naturalization-papers in Leafland. All manner of
nations and peoples partake of its hospitalities and remember it for
blessing. You have only to be pure-hearted, and you may become at once a
Leaflander.

So it came to pass that the Leaflanders were sore grieved at heart to
see the wea