The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Now the bear comes down to drink and look at his ugly face in the
deepening wave, foxes switch their long tails about the banks, deer
come, as light-footed as shadows, drink, and fling up their short
tails, with a flit of white, and trot away with a little sniff, and
their heads thrown back, hearing the howl or the long stride of the
wolf in pursuit. Rabbits come there, and squirrels leap and nibble in
the branches above. Besides, there are shoals of pretty, slim fishes.
So through the mellow gloom and sunny sparkle of the old forest, the
clear brook wanders, growing wiser, and talking to itself about many
things.
Presently the wild creatures withdraw, sunburnt children wade across
from bank to bank, grassy clearings abound, there are farm-houses,
and cows with tinkling bells; and then comes a bridge, and boats
dance upon the water, and the stream is a river! Alas for the Indian
name it brought up out of the earth with it, and lisped and gurgled
and laughed to itself all the way down--the name spiked with _k_'s
and choky-looking _gh_'s, rough to the eye, but sweet in the mouth,
like a hazel-nut in the burr. The white settlers have changed all
that.
Now, indeed, the young river puts on state, and lets people see that
it is not to be waded through; and when they build a dam across,
it flows grandly over, in a smooth, wine-colored curve. Times are
changed, indeed, since the little gray birds with speckled breasts
looked with admiration at its first cascade, since the bear, setting
down his great paw, clumsily splashed the whole stream up over
his shaggy leg. There are farms to keep up appearances before,
mill-wheels to turn, and ships to bear up. Pine-cones, indeed!
Besides, a new and strange experience has come to it, and its bosom
pulses daily with the swelling of the tides. And here one village
street, with white houses, follows its course a mile or so, and
another street with white houses comes down to its bank from the
west, crosses over, and goes up eastward. This town, with its two
principal streets forming a cross near the mouth of the river, a
white cross at the end of a silver chain--shall we call it Seaton?
It is a good enough name. And the river shall be Seaton River, and
the bay into which it flows shall be Seaton Bay. But the ocean that
makes the bay, and drinks the river, shall be Atlantic still.
We have spoken!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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