Towards democracy

Little Brook without a Name 503

, through the fields, so bright so pure, from the moorland a mile away ;—

7 The willows hang over thee, and the alders and hazels; and the oak and the ash dip their feet in thy waves;

And on thy sunny banks in Spring the first primroses peep, and celandines, and the wild hyacinths lavish fragrance en the breeze—

Little brook, so simple so unassuming—and yet how many things love thee!

Here where I have my nest,

[And the white-throat through the day and through the long night sits patient on her brood among the grasses, |

Lo! Sun and Moon look down and glass themselves in

+ thy waters,

[In the faithful watchful eyes of the bird they lovingly glass themselves ;]

And the wren creeps like a mouse from twig to twig, and utters her thin sweet note ; and the willow-warbler chimes his endless cadence of gratitude; and the nightjar sweeps silently by in the dusk, and the pheasant at midday comes

~ down from the wood to drink;

And the trout balances itself hour-long against the stream, watching for its prey; or retires under a stone to rest ;

And the water-rats nibble off the willow leaves and carry them below the wave to their mests—or sit on a dry stone to trim their whiskers ;

And the little mouse, the water-shrew, walks (even like

PP)