llow.]

EXPRESSION: Talk with your teacher about the life, work, and
influence of St. Francis. Refer to cyclopedias for information.
Read aloud the prose version of his sermon to the birds; the
poetical version. Compare the two versions. What is said in one
that is not said in the other?

IN THE WOODS[10]

Years ago, when quite a youth, I was rambling in the woods one day with
my brothers, gathering black birch and wintergreens.

As we lay upon the ground, gazing vaguely up into the trees, I caught
sight of a bird, the like of which I had never before seen or heard of.
It was the blue yellow-backed warbler, which I have found since; but to
my young fancy it seemed like some fairy bird, so curiously marked was
it, and so new and unexpected. I saw it a moment as the flickering
leaves parted, noted the white spot on its wing, and it was gone.

It was a revelation. It was the first intimation I had had that the
woods we knew so well held birds that we knew not at all. Were our eyes
and ears so dull? Did we pass by the beautiful things in nature without
seeing them? Had we been blind then? There were the robin, the bluejay,
the yellowbird, and others familiar to every one; but who ever dreamed
that there were still others that not even the hunters saw, and whose
names few had ever heard?

The surprise that awaits every close observer of birds, the thrill of
delight that accompanies it, and the feeling of fresh eager inquiry that
follows can hardly be awakened by any other pursuit.

There is a fascination about it quite overpowering.

It fits so well with other things--with fishing, hunting, farming,
walking, camping out--with all that takes one to the fields and the
woods. One may go blackberrying and make some rare discovery; or, while
driving his cow to pasture, hear a new song, or make a new observation.
Secrets lurk on all sides. There is news in every bush. Expectation is
ever on tiptoe. What no man ever saw may the next moment be revealed to
you.

What a new interest this gives to the woods! How you long to explore
every nook and corner of them! One must taste it to understand. The
looker-on sees nothing to make such a fuss about. Only a little glimpse
of feathers and a half-musical note or two--why all this ado? It is not
the mere knowledge of birds that you get, but a new interest in the
fields and woods, the air, the sunshine, the healing fragrance and
coolness, and the ge