The Project Gutenberg EBook of Roof and Meadow, by Dallas Lore Sharp

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Title: Roof and Meadow

Author: Dallas Lore Sharp

Release Date: January 16, 2005 [EBook #14701]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Transcriber's Note: In this text, the spelling _racoon_ is used
consistently instead of _raccoon_. I have kept this and any other unusual
spellings, retaining the character of the original.]

Roof and Meadow

By Dallas Lore Sharp

Author of "A Watcher in the Woods"

With Illustrations By Bruce Horsfall

SCHOOL EDITION

[Illustration]

NEW YORK

The Century Co.

1911

Copyright, 1903, 1904, by THE CENTURY CO.

Copyright, 1902, 1903, by HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY.

Copyright, 1903, by THE CHAPPLE PUBLISHING CO. (Ltd.).

Copyright, 1902, 1903, by W.W. POTTER CO. (Ltd.).

Copyright, 1902, 1903, by PERRY MASON COMPANY

_Published April, 1904._

TO

MY MOTHER

CONTENTS

PAGE

BIRDS FROM A CITY ROOF 1
THE HUNTING OF THE WOODCHUCK 19
THREE SERMONS 31
THE MARSH 45
CALICO AND THE KITTENS 77
THE SPARROW ROOST 91
"MUX" 107
RACOON CREEK 121
THE DRAGON OF THE SWALE 147

BIRDS FROM A CITY ROOF

[Illustration]

ROOF AND MEADOW

BIRDS FROM A CITY ROOF

I laid down my book and listened. It was only the choking gurgle of a
broken rain-pipe outside: then it was the ripple and swish of a meadow
stream. To make out the voices of redwings and marsh-wrens in the rasping
notes of the city sparrows behind the shutter required much more
imagination. But I did it. I wanted to hear, and the splash of the water
helped me.

The sounds of wind and water are the same everywhere. Here at the heart of
the city I can forget the tarry pebbles and painted tin whenever my
rain-pipes are flooded. I can never be wholly shut away from the open
country and the trees so l