. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . I placed him in the grave Idug beneath the palm trees where the hut had heart was sore and heavy, for I felt that onetie had been severed that had bound me to thisspot. Until death comes into our experience wehave no conception of the true range and scopeof life—its depth and breadth. Until this happensto us we are like to take but superficial views ofour responsibilities and surroundings; after thishappens our horizon widens and our sympathies ex-pand. Thus it was, perhaps, that, deprived of his com-panionship, humble though it had been, I w
. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . I placed him in the grave Idug beneath the palm trees where the hut had heart was sore and heavy, for I felt that onetie had been severed that had bound me to thisspot. Until death comes into our experience wehave no conception of the true range and scopeof life—its depth and breadth. Until this happensto us we are like to take but superficial views ofour responsibilities and surroundings; after thishappens our horizon widens and our sympathies ex-pand. Thus it was, perhaps, that, deprived of his com-panionship, humble though it had been, I was now THOMAS NED FINDS A PEARL OP PRICE. 243 less content to dwell here apart from the about me took on a somber tinge, despitethe golden atmosphere of this land so near the the living things—the parrots, the mockingbirds, the vivacious wrens—seemed to be aware thatsome great calamity had happened. There seemedto be a mournful cadence in the song birds notes,and even Polly Psittacus was hushed and The grave beneath the palms. He noticed our friends absence, for he went fromhouse to kitchen, head hanging down, and witha solemn air; but he was now a bird of tact anddiscretion, and if he felt either grief or joy atNeds departure, he had the good sense not to speakof it. So I became restless, and anxious to leave thisparadise which at the first had held so much ofpromise, so much of pleasure. The substance ofthings had not changed; but everything was nowtinged with the melancholy of a terrible happen- 244 CRUSOES ISLAND. ing. And I had begun so bravely! I bad re-solved here to live out my life, to spend it in tbesearch for truth. This island was to have been mymicrocosm. But at last there came a day—I remember wellits brightness and the sweetness of the air—when thechoice was offered me to leave or stay. A vesselsailed around the promontory and dropped anchorbehind the coral reefs. I knew then that the end ofmy dreaming was at hand, th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcrusoesi, booksubjectbirds
