From
different points of view, it should appear to change,--now an old man,
now an old woman,--a gunner, a farmer, or the Old Nick.
A ground-sparrow's nest in the slope of a bank, brought to view by
mowing the grass, but still sheltered and comfortably hidden by a
blackberry-vine trailing over it. At first, four brown-speckled eggs,--
then two little bare young ones, which, on the slightest noise, lift
their heads, and open wide mouths for food,--immediately dropping their
heads, after a broad gape. The action looks as if they were making a
most earnest, agonized petition. In another egg, as in a coffin, I could
discern the quiet, death-like form of the little bird. The whole thing
had something awful and mysterious in it.
A coroner's inquest on a murdered man,--the gathering of the jury to be
described, and the characters of the members,--some with secret guilt
upon their souls.
To represent a man as spending life and the intensest labor in the
accomplishment of some mechanical trifle,--as in making a miniature coach
to be drawn by fleas, or a dinner-service to be put into a cherry-stone.
Pages:
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292