章节正文
them wandering hours at a time. It was noon before
she finished, and then she packed a basket of lunch.
She found Elnora and Philip near the violet patch, which
was still in its prime. They all lunched together in the
shade of a wild crab thicket, with flowers spread at their
feet, and the gold orioles streaking the air with flashes
of light and trailing ecstasy behind them, while the red-
wings, as always, asked the most impertinent questions.
Then Mrs. Comstock carried the basket back to the cabin,
and Philip and Elnora sat on a log, resting a few minutes.
They had unexpected luck, and both were eager to continue
the search.
"Do you remember your promise about these violets?"
asked he. "To-morrow is Edith's birthday, and if I'd
put them special delivery on the morning train, she'd
get them in the late afternoon. They ought to keep
that long. She leaves for the North next day."
"Of course, you may have them," said Elnora. "We will
quit long enough before supper to gather a large bunch.
They can be packed so they will carry all right.
They should be perfectly fresh, especially if we gather
them this evening and let them drink all night."
Then they went back to hunt Catocalae. It was a
long and a happy search. It led them into new,
unexplored nooks of the woods, past a red-poll nest,
and where goldfinches prospected for thistledown for
the cradles they would line a little later. It led
them into real forest, where deep, dark pools lay,
where the hermitthrush and the wood robin extracted
the essence from all other bird melody, and poured it
out in their pure bell-tone notes. It seemed as if
every old gray tree-trunk, slab of loose bark, and
prostrate log yielded the flashing gray treasures;
while of all others they seemed to take alarm most
easily, and be most difficult to capture.
Philip came to Elnora at dusk, daintily holding one
by the body, its dark wings showing and its long slender
legs trying to clasp his fingers and creep from his hold.
"Oh for mercy's sake!" cried Elnora, staring at him.
"I half believe it!" exulted Ammon.
"Did you ever see one?"
"Only in collections, and very seldom there."
Elnora studied the black wings intently. "I surely
believe that's Sappho," she marvelled. "The Bird Woman
will be overjoyed."
"We must get the cyanide jar quickly," said Philip.
"I wouldn't lose her for anything. Such a chase as she
led me!"
Elnora brought the jar and began gathering up paraphernalia.
"When you make a find like that," she said, "it's the
right time to quit and feel glorious all the rest of
that day. I tell you I'm proud! We will go now. We have
barely time to carry out our plans before supper.
Won't mother be pleased to see that we have a rare one?"
"I'd like to see any one more pleased than I am!" said
Philip Ammon. "I feel as if I'd earned my supper to-night.
Let's go."
He took the greater part of the load and stepped aside
for Elnora to precede him. She followed the path, broken
by the grazing cattle, toward the cabin and nearest the
violet patch she stopped, laid down her net, and the things
she carried. Philip passed her and hurried straight
toward the back gate.
"Aren't you going to----?" began Elnora.
"I'm going to get this moth home in a hurry," he said.
"This cyanide has lost its strength, and it's not
working well. We need some fresh in the jar."
He had forgotten the violets! Elnora stood looking
after him, a curious expression on her face. One second
so--then she picked up the net and followed. At the
blue-bordered pool she paused and half turned back, then
she closed her lips firmly and went on. It was nine o'clock
when Philip said good-bye, and started to town. His gay
whistle floated to them from the farthest corner of
the Limberlost. Elnora complained of being tired, so she
went to her room and to bed. But sleep would not come.
Thought was racing in her brain and the longer she lay
the wider awake she grew. At last she softly slipped from
bed, lighted her lamp and began opening boxes. Then she
went to work. Two hours later a beautiful birch bark
basket, strongly and artistically made, stood on her table.
She set a tiny alarm clock at three, returned to bed and
fell asleep instantly with a smile on her lips.
She was on the floor with the first tinkle of the alarm,
and hastily dressing, she picked up the basket and a box
to fit it, crept down the stairs, and out to the violet patch.
She was unafraid as it was growing light, and lining the
basket with damp mosses she swiftly began picking, with
practised hands, the best of the flowers. She scarcely
could tell which were freshest at times, but day soon came
creeping over the Limberlost and peeped at her. The robins
awoke all their neighbours, and a babel of bird notes
filled the air. The dew was dripping, while the first strong
rays of light fell on a world in which Elnora worshipped.
When the basket was filled to overflowing, she set it in the
stout pasteboard box, packed it solid with mosses, tied it
firmly and slipped under the cord a note she had written
the previous night.
Then she took a short cut across the woods and walked
swiftly to Onabasha. It was after six o'clock, but all of
the city she wished to avoid were asleep. She had no
trouble in finding a small boy out, and she stood at a
distance waiting while he rang Dr. Ammon's bell and
delivered the package for Philip to a maid, with the note
which was to be given him at once.
On the way home through the woods passing some baited
trees she collected the captive moths. She entered
the kitchen with them so naturally that Mrs. Comstock
made no comment. After breakfast Elnora went to her
room, cleared away all trace of the night's work and was
out in the arbour mounting moths when Philip came down
the road. "I am tired sitting," she said to her mother.
"I think I will walk a few rods and meet him."
"Who's a trump?" he called from afar.
"Not you!" retorted Elnora. "Confess that you forgot!"
"Completely!" said Philip. "But luckily it would not
have been fatal. I wrote Polly last week to send Edith
something appropriate to-day, with my card. But that
touch from the woods will be very effective. Thank you
more than I can say. Aunt Anna and I unpacked it to
see the basket, and it was a beauty. She says you are
always doing such things."
"Well, I hope not!" laughed Elnora. "If you'd seen
me sneaking out before dawn, not to awaken mother and
coming in with moths to make her think I'd been to the
trees, you'd know it was a most especial occasion."
"Then Philip understood two things: Elnora's mother
did not know of the early morning trip to the city, and
the girl had come to meet him to tell him so.
"You were a brick to do it!" he whispered as he closed
the gate behind them. "I'll never forget you for it.
Thank you ever so much."
"I did not do that for you," said Elnora tersely. "I did
it mostly to preserve my own self-respect. I saw you
were forgetting. If I did it for anything besides that,
I did it for her."
"Just look what I've brought!" said Philip, entering
the arbour and greeting Mrs. Comstock. "Borrowed it
of the Bird Woman. And it isn't hers. A rare edition
of Catocalae with coloured plates. I told her the best I
could, and she said to try for Sappho here. I suspect the
Bird Woman will be out presently. She was all excitement."
Then they bent over the book together and with the
mounted moth before them determined her family. The Bird
Woman did come later, and carried the moth away, to put
into a book and Elnora and Philip were freshly filled
with enthusiasm.
So these days were the beginning of the weeks that followed.
Six of them flying on Time's wings, each filled
to the brim with interest. After June, the moth hunts
grew less frequent; the fields and woods were searched
for material for Elnora's grade work. The most absorbing
occupation they found was in carrying out Mrs. Comstock's
suggestion to learn the vital thing for which each
month was distinctive, and make that the key to the
nature work. They wrote out a list of the months,
opposite each the things all of them could suggest which seemed
to pertain to that month alone, and then tried to sift until
they found something typical. Mrs. Comstock was a
great help. Her mother had been Dutch and had brought
from Holland numerous quaint sayings and superstitions
easily traceable to Pliny's Natural History; and in Mrs.
Comstock's early years in Ohio she had heard much Indian
talk among her elders, so she knew the signs of each season,
and sometimes they helped. Always her practical
thought and sterling common sense were useful. When they
were afield until exhausted they came back to the
cabin for food, to prepare specimens and classify them,
and to talk over the day. Sometimes Philip brought
books and read while Elnora and her mother worked,
and every night Mrs. Comstock asked for the violin.
Her perfect hunger for music was sufficient evidence of how
she had suffered without it. So the days crept by, golden,
filled with useful work and pure pleasure.
The grosbeak had led the family in the maple abroad
and a second brood, in a wild grape vine clambering over
the well, was almost ready for flight. The dust lay thick
on the country roads, the days grew warmer; summer
was just poising to slip into fall, and Philip remained,
coming each day as if he had belonged there always.
One warm August afternoon Mrs. Comstock looked
up from the ruffle on which she was engaged to see
a blue-coated messenger enter the gate.
"Is Philip Ammon here?" asked the boy.
"He is," said Mrs. Comstock.
"I have a message for him."
"He is in the woods back of the cabin. I will ring the bell.
Do you know if it is important?"
"Urgent," said the boy; "I rode hard."
Mrs. Comstock stepped to the back door and clanged
the dinner bell sharply, paused a second, and rang again.
In a short time Philip and Elnora ran down the path.
"Are you ill, mother?" cried Elnora.
Mrs. Comstock indicated the boy. "There is an important
message for Philip," she said.
He muttered an excuse and tore open the telegram.
His colour faded slightly. "I have to take the first train,"
he said. "My father is ill and I am needed."
He handed the sheet to Elnora. "I have about two
hours, as I remember the trains north, but my things are
all over Uncle Doc's house, so I must go at once."
she finished, and then she packed a basket of lunch.
She found Elnora and Philip near the violet patch, which
was still in its prime. They all lunched together in the
shade of a wild crab thicket, with flowers spread at their
feet, and the gold orioles streaking the air with flashes
of light and trailing ecstasy behind them, while the red-
wings, as always, asked the most impertinent questions.
Then Mrs. Comstock carried the basket back to the cabin,
and Philip and Elnora sat on a log, resting a few minutes.
They had unexpected luck, and both were eager to continue
the search.
"Do you remember your promise about these violets?"
asked he. "To-morrow is Edith's birthday, and if I'd
put them special delivery on the morning train, she'd
get them in the late afternoon. They ought to keep
that long. She leaves for the North next day."
"Of course, you may have them," said Elnora. "We will
quit long enough before supper to gather a large bunch.
They can be packed so they will carry all right.
They should be perfectly fresh, especially if we gather
them this evening and let them drink all night."
Then they went back to hunt Catocalae. It was a
long and a happy search. It led them into new,
unexplored nooks of the woods, past a red-poll nest,
and where goldfinches prospected for thistledown for
the cradles they would line a little later. It led
them into real forest, where deep, dark pools lay,
where the hermitthrush and the wood robin extracted
the essence from all other bird melody, and poured it
out in their pure bell-tone notes. It seemed as if
every old gray tree-trunk, slab of loose bark, and
prostrate log yielded the flashing gray treasures;
while of all others they seemed to take alarm most
easily, and be most difficult to capture.
Philip came to Elnora at dusk, daintily holding one
by the body, its dark wings showing and its long slender
legs trying to clasp his fingers and creep from his hold.
"Oh for mercy's sake!" cried Elnora, staring at him.
"I half believe it!" exulted Ammon.
"Did you ever see one?"
"Only in collections, and very seldom there."
Elnora studied the black wings intently. "I surely
believe that's Sappho," she marvelled. "The Bird Woman
will be overjoyed."
"We must get the cyanide jar quickly," said Philip.
"I wouldn't lose her for anything. Such a chase as she
led me!"
Elnora brought the jar and began gathering up paraphernalia.
"When you make a find like that," she said, "it's the
right time to quit and feel glorious all the rest of
that day. I tell you I'm proud! We will go now. We have
barely time to carry out our plans before supper.
Won't mother be pleased to see that we have a rare one?"
"I'd like to see any one more pleased than I am!" said
Philip Ammon. "I feel as if I'd earned my supper to-night.
Let's go."
He took the greater part of the load and stepped aside
for Elnora to precede him. She followed the path, broken
by the grazing cattle, toward the cabin and nearest the
violet patch she stopped, laid down her net, and the things
she carried. Philip passed her and hurried straight
toward the back gate.
"Aren't you going to----?" began Elnora.
"I'm going to get this moth home in a hurry," he said.
"This cyanide has lost its strength, and it's not
working well. We need some fresh in the jar."
He had forgotten the violets! Elnora stood looking
after him, a curious expression on her face. One second
so--then she picked up the net and followed. At the
blue-bordered pool she paused and half turned back, then
she closed her lips firmly and went on. It was nine o'clock
when Philip said good-bye, and started to town. His gay
whistle floated to them from the farthest corner of
the Limberlost. Elnora complained of being tired, so she
went to her room and to bed. But sleep would not come.
Thought was racing in her brain and the longer she lay
the wider awake she grew. At last she softly slipped from
bed, lighted her lamp and began opening boxes. Then she
went to work. Two hours later a beautiful birch bark
basket, strongly and artistically made, stood on her table.
She set a tiny alarm clock at three, returned to bed and
fell asleep instantly with a smile on her lips.
She was on the floor with the first tinkle of the alarm,
and hastily dressing, she picked up the basket and a box
to fit it, crept down the stairs, and out to the violet patch.
She was unafraid as it was growing light, and lining the
basket with damp mosses she swiftly began picking, with
practised hands, the best of the flowers. She scarcely
could tell which were freshest at times, but day soon came
creeping over the Limberlost and peeped at her. The robins
awoke all their neighbours, and a babel of bird notes
filled the air. The dew was dripping, while the first strong
rays of light fell on a world in which Elnora worshipped.
When the basket was filled to overflowing, she set it in the
stout pasteboard box, packed it solid with mosses, tied it
firmly and slipped under the cord a note she had written
the previous night.
Then she took a short cut across the woods and walked
swiftly to Onabasha. It was after six o'clock, but all of
the city she wished to avoid were asleep. She had no
trouble in finding a small boy out, and she stood at a
distance waiting while he rang Dr. Ammon's bell and
delivered the package for Philip to a maid, with the note
which was to be given him at once.
On the way home through the woods passing some baited
trees she collected the captive moths. She entered
the kitchen with them so naturally that Mrs. Comstock
made no comment. After breakfast Elnora went to her
room, cleared away all trace of the night's work and was
out in the arbour mounting moths when Philip came down
the road. "I am tired sitting," she said to her mother.
"I think I will walk a few rods and meet him."
"Who's a trump?" he called from afar.
"Not you!" retorted Elnora. "Confess that you forgot!"
"Completely!" said Philip. "But luckily it would not
have been fatal. I wrote Polly last week to send Edith
something appropriate to-day, with my card. But that
touch from the woods will be very effective. Thank you
more than I can say. Aunt Anna and I unpacked it to
see the basket, and it was a beauty. She says you are
always doing such things."
"Well, I hope not!" laughed Elnora. "If you'd seen
me sneaking out before dawn, not to awaken mother and
coming in with moths to make her think I'd been to the
trees, you'd know it was a most especial occasion."
"Then Philip understood two things: Elnora's mother
did not know of the early morning trip to the city, and
the girl had come to meet him to tell him so.
"You were a brick to do it!" he whispered as he closed
the gate behind them. "I'll never forget you for it.
Thank you ever so much."
"I did not do that for you," said Elnora tersely. "I did
it mostly to preserve my own self-respect. I saw you
were forgetting. If I did it for anything besides that,
I did it for her."
"Just look what I've brought!" said Philip, entering
the arbour and greeting Mrs. Comstock. "Borrowed it
of the Bird Woman. And it isn't hers. A rare edition
of Catocalae with coloured plates. I told her the best I
could, and she said to try for Sappho here. I suspect the
Bird Woman will be out presently. She was all excitement."
Then they bent over the book together and with the
mounted moth before them determined her family. The Bird
Woman did come later, and carried the moth away, to put
into a book and Elnora and Philip were freshly filled
with enthusiasm.
So these days were the beginning of the weeks that followed.
Six of them flying on Time's wings, each filled
to the brim with interest. After June, the moth hunts
grew less frequent; the fields and woods were searched
for material for Elnora's grade work. The most absorbing
occupation they found was in carrying out Mrs. Comstock's
suggestion to learn the vital thing for which each
month was distinctive, and make that the key to the
nature work. They wrote out a list of the months,
opposite each the things all of them could suggest which seemed
to pertain to that month alone, and then tried to sift until
they found something typical. Mrs. Comstock was a
great help. Her mother had been Dutch and had brought
from Holland numerous quaint sayings and superstitions
easily traceable to Pliny's Natural History; and in Mrs.
Comstock's early years in Ohio she had heard much Indian
talk among her elders, so she knew the signs of each season,
and sometimes they helped. Always her practical
thought and sterling common sense were useful. When they
were afield until exhausted they came back to the
cabin for food, to prepare specimens and classify them,
and to talk over the day. Sometimes Philip brought
books and read while Elnora and her mother worked,
and every night Mrs. Comstock asked for the violin.
Her perfect hunger for music was sufficient evidence of how
she had suffered without it. So the days crept by, golden,
filled with useful work and pure pleasure.
The grosbeak had led the family in the maple abroad
and a second brood, in a wild grape vine clambering over
the well, was almost ready for flight. The dust lay thick
on the country roads, the days grew warmer; summer
was just poising to slip into fall, and Philip remained,
coming each day as if he had belonged there always.
One warm August afternoon Mrs. Comstock looked
up from the ruffle on which she was engaged to see
a blue-coated messenger enter the gate.
"Is Philip Ammon here?" asked the boy.
"He is," said Mrs. Comstock.
"I have a message for him."
"He is in the woods back of the cabin. I will ring the bell.
Do you know if it is important?"
"Urgent," said the boy; "I rode hard."
Mrs. Comstock stepped to the back door and clanged
the dinner bell sharply, paused a second, and rang again.
In a short time Philip and Elnora ran down the path.
"Are you ill, mother?" cried Elnora.
Mrs. Comstock indicated the boy. "There is an important
message for Philip," she said.
He muttered an excuse and tore open the telegram.
His colour faded slightly. "I have to take the first train,"
he said. "My father is ill and I am needed."
He handed the sheet to Elnora. "I have about two
hours, as I remember the trains north, but my things are
all over Uncle Doc's house, so I must go at once."
- violet [´vaiələt]
n.&a.紫罗兰(的)；紫色 (初中英语单词) - glorious [´glɔ:riəs] a.光荣的；辉煌的 (初中英语单词)
- firmly [´fə:mli] ad.坚固地，稳定地 (初中英语单词)
- softly [´sɔftli] ad.软化地；柔和地 (初中英语单词)
- opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)
- strongly [´strɔŋli] ad.强烈地；强有力地 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- hastily [´heistili] ad.急速地；草率地 (初中英语单词)
- swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
- previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- package [´pækidʒ] n.包(裹) vt.组装 (初中英语单词)
- captive [´kæptiv] n.俘虏；捕获物 (初中英语单词)
- comment [´kɔment] n.&v.评论；评注；注意 (初中英语单词)
- effective [i´fektiv] a.有效的；有力的 (初中英语单词)
- awaken [ə´weikən] v.唤起，叫醒 (初中英语单词)
- mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词)
- preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
- suspect [´sʌspekt, sə´spekt] v.怀疑；觉得 n.嫌疑犯 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- frequent [´fri:kwənt] a.常见的，频繁的 (初中英语单词)
- holland [´hɔlənd] n.荷兰 (初中英语单词)
- hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
- flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
- messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)
- sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)
- slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
- thicket [´θikit] n.灌木丛；密集的东西 (高中英语单词)
- ecstasy [´ekstəsi] n.狂喜；出神，入迷 (高中英语单词)
- unexpected [ʌniks´pektid] a.突然的；意外的 (高中英语单词)
- delivery [di´livəri] n.送交；分娩；交货 (高中英语单词)
- perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
- hermit [´hə:mit] n.隐士 (高中英语单词)
- melody [´melədi] n.悦耳的音调；乐曲 (高中英语单词)
- studied [´stʌdid] a.故意的；有计划的 (高中英语单词)
- precede [pri´si:d] v.领先；先于 (高中英语单词)
- hurried [´hʌrid] a.仓促的，慌忙的 (高中英语单词)
- lining [´lainiŋ] n.衬里；衬料 (高中英语单词)
- finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
- appropriate [ə´prəupri-it, ə´prəuprieit] a.适宜的 vt.私占；拨给 (高中英语单词)
- typical [´tipikəl] a.典型的；象征的 (高中英语单词)
- quaint [kweint] a.离奇的；奇妙的 (高中英语单词)
- ruffle [´rʌfl] v.弄皱；扰乱 n.轻擂 (高中英语单词)
- thrush [θrʌʃ] n.画眉鸟 (英语四级单词)
- essence [´esəns] n.本质；要素；精华 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- intently [in´tentli] ad.专心地 (英语四级单词)
- gathering [´gæðəriŋ] n.集会，聚集 (英语四级单词)
- farthest [´fɑ:ðist] ad.&a.最远(的) (英语四级单词)
- tinkle [´tiŋkəl] v.&n.(使发)叮当声 (英语四级单词)
- freshly [´freʃli] ad.新近，刚才 (英语四级单词)
- distinctive [di´stiŋktiv] a.有区别的；有特色的 (英语四级单词)
- sterling [´stə:liŋ] a.真正的 n.英国货币 (英语四级单词)
- classify [´klæsifai] vt.把...分类(归类) (英语四级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- especial [i´speʃəl] a.特别的，特殊的 (英语六级单词)
- pertain [pə´tein] vi.附属，属于；关于 (英语六级单词)
- august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
