Return to the Flats.
SUMMER came, and with it visitors, as usual, to madame, from New-York
and other places; among whom, I remember, were her nieces, Mrs. L. and
Mrs. C. I went to the Flats, and was, as usual, kept very close to my
needle-work; but though there was no variety to amuse me, summer slid by
very fast. My mind was continually occupied with aunt, and all the
passages of her life. My greatest pleasure was to read over again the
books I had read to her, and recollect her observations upon them. I
often got up and went out to the door to look at places where particular
things had happened. She spent the winter’s nights in retrospections of
her past life; and I spent the summer days in retrospections of these
winter nights. But these were not my only pleasures. The banks of the
river and the opposite scenery delighted me; and, adopting all aunt’s
tastes and attachments, I made myself believe I was very fond of Pedrom
and Susannah Muet, as the widow of Jeremiah was called. My attention to
them excited their kindness; and the borrowed sentiment, on my part,
soon became a real one. These old friends were very amusing. But then I
had numberless young friends, who shared my attention, and were, in
their own way, very amusing too. These were the objects of my earliest
cares in the morning, and my needless solicitude all day. I had marked
down in a list between thirty and forty nests of various kinds of birds.
It was an extreme dry summer, and I saw the parent birds, whom I
diligently watched, often panting with heat, and, as I thought,
fatigued. After all I had heard and seen of aunt, I thought it incumbent
on me to be good and kind to some being that needed my assistance. To my
fellow-creatures, my power did not extend; therefore I wisely resolved
to adapt my mode of beneficence to the sphere of action assigned to me,
and decided upon the judicious scheme of assisting all these birds to
feed their young. My confederate Marian, (our negro girl,) entered
heartily into this plan; and it was the business of the morning, before
tasks commenced, to slaughter innumerable insects, and gather quantities
of cherries and other fruit for that purpose. Portions of this provision
we laid beside every nest, and then applauded ourselves for saving the
poor birds fatigue. This, from a pursuit, became a passion. Every spare
moment was devoted to it, and every hour made new discoveries of the
nature and habits of our winged friends, which we considered as amply
recompensing our labours.
The most eager student of natural philosophy could not be more attentive
to those objects, or more intent on making discoveries. One sad
discovery we made, that mortified us exceedingly. The mocking-bird is
very scarce and very shy in this northern district. A pair came,
however, to our inexpressible delight, and built a nest in a very high
tree in our garden. Never was joy like ours. At the imminent risk of our
necks, we made shift to ascend to this lofty dwelling during the absence
of the owners: birds we found none; but three eggs of a colour so
equivocal, that, deciding the point whether they were green or blue,
furnished matter of debate for the rest of the day. To see these
treasures was delightful, and to refrain from touching them impossible.
One of the young we resolved to appropriate, contrary to our general
humane procedure; and the next weighty affair to be discussed, was the
form and size of the cage, which was to contain this embryo warbler. The
parents, however, arrived. On examining the premises, by some mysterious
mode of their own, they discovered that their secret had been explored,
and that profane hands had touched the objects of all their tenderness.
Their plaintive cries we too well understood. That whole evening and all
the next day they were busied in the orchard; while their loud
lamentations, constantly reiterated, pierced us with remorse. We soon
saw the garden next forsaken; and a little further examination soon
convinced us that the violated eggs had been transported to another,
where, however, they were not hatched; the delicate instincts which
directed these creatures to form a new nest, and carry off their eggs,
on finding they had been handled, did not, at the same time inform them
that eggs carried away, and shaken by that motion, during the process of
incubation, cannot produce any thing.
The great barn, which I formerly described, afforded scope for our
observations of this nature; and here we remarked a phenomenon, that I
am still at a loss to account for. In the highest part of that spacious
and lofty roof, multitudes of swallows, of the martin species, made
their nests. These were constructed of mud or clay, as usual, and in the
ordinary course of things, lasted, with some repairs, from year to year.
This summer, however, being unusually hot and dry, the nests, in great
numbers, cracked and fell down on the floor, with the young ones in
them. We often found them in this situation, but always found the birds
in them alive and unhurt; and saw the old ones come to feed them on the
floor, which they did with such eager confidence, that they often
brushed so near as to touch us. Now we could no other way account for
the nests always coming down with the birds unhurt in them, but by
supposing that the swallows watched the fracture of the nests, and when
they saw them about to fall, came round the descending fabric, and kept
it in a kind of equilibrium. Of these birds we stood in such profound
awe, that we never profited by the accident which put them in our power;
we would not, indeed, for any consideration, have touched them,
especially after the sad adventure of the mocking-birds, which hung very
heavy upon our consciences. Autumn came, and aunt came at the appointed
day, the anniversary of his death, to visit the tomb of her beloved
consort. This ceremony always took place at that time. She concluded it
with a visit to us, and an earnest request for my returning with her,
and remaining the winter.
-------