h of their
ancient enemies, because the deer had trampled nests around the
shore, roiled the water, spoiled the food hunting, and had been wholly
unmindful of the laws of feathered folk from the beginning.

Behind the barn imperial cocks crowed challenges of defiance to each
other and all the world, because they once had worn royal turbans on
their heads, and ruled the forests, even the elephants and lions. Happy
hens cackled when they deposited an egg, and wandered through their park
singing the spring egg song unceasingly.

Upon the barn Ajax spread and exulted in glittering plumage, and
screamed viciously. He was sending a wireless plea to the forests of
Ceylon for a gray mate to come and share the ridge pole with him, and
help him wage red war on the sickening love making of the white doves he
hated.

Everything was beautiful, some of it was amusing, all instructive, and
intensely interesting. The Girl wanted to know about the brown, yellow,
and black butterflies sailing from flower to flower. She watched big
black and gold bees come from the forest for pollen and listened to
their monotonous bumbling. Her first humming bird poised in air, and
sipped nectar before her astonished eyes. It was marvellous, but more
wonderful to the Girl than anything she saw or heard was the fact that
because of the Harvester's teachings she now could trace through all of
it the ordained processes of the evolution of life. Everything was right
in its way, all necessary to human welfare, and so there was nothing to
fear, but marvels to learn and pictures to appreciate. She would have
taken Belshazzar and gone out, but the Harvester had exacted a promise
that she would not. The fact was, he could see that she was coming
gradually to a sane and natural view of life and living things, and he
did not want some sound or creature to frighten her, and spoil what he
had accomplished. So she swayed in the swing and watched, and tried to
interpret sights and sounds as he did.

Before an hour she realized that she was coming speedily into sympathy
with the wild life around her; for, instead of shivering and shrinking
at unaccustomed sounds, she was listening especially for them, and
trying to arrive at a sane version. Instead of the senseless roar
of commerce, manufacture, and life of a city, she was beginning to
appreciate sounds that varied and carried the Song of Life in unceasing
measure and absorbing meaning, while she was more than thank