OIiver Herford. [Headpiece for Herford’s poem “The Artful Ant” as it appeared in 1891 in the children’s magazine St. Nicholas, vol. XVIII, no. 4.] Drawing, 1891, Harvard Art Museums.
Once on a time an artful Ant
Resolved to give a ball,
For tho’ in stature she was scant,
She was not what you'd call
A shy or bashful little Ant.
(She was not shy at all.)
She sent her invitations through
The forest far and wide,
To all the Birds and Beasts she knew,
And many more beside.
(“You never know what you can do,”
Said she, “until you 've tried.”)
Five-score acceptances came in
Faster than she could read.
Said she: “Dear me! I’d best begin
To stir myself indeed!”
(A pretty pickle she was in,
With five-score guests to feed!)
The artful Ant sat up all night,
A-thinking o’er and o’er,
How she could make from nothing, quite
Enough to feed five-score.
(Between ourselves I think she might
Have thought of that before.)
She thought, and thought, and thought all night,
And all the following day,
Till suddenly she struck a bright
Idea, which was— (but say!
Just what it was I am not quite
At liberty to say.)
Enough, that when the festal day
Came round, the Ant was seen
To smile in a peculiar way,
As if— (but you may glean
From seeing tragic actors play
The kind of smile I mean.)
From here and there and everywhere
The happy creatures came,
The Fish alone could not be there.
(And they were not to blame.
“They really could not stand the air,
But thanked her just the same.”)
The lion, bowing very low,
Said to the Ant: “I ne’er
Since Noah’s Ark remember so
Delightful an affair.”
(A pretty compliment, although
He really wasn’t there.)
They danced, and danced, and danced, and danced;
It was a jolly sight!
They pranced, and pranced, and pranced, and pranced,
Till it was nearly light!
And then their thoughts to supper chanced
To turn. (As well they might!)
Then said the Ant: “It’s only right
That supper should begin,
And if you will be so polite,
Pray take each other in.”
(The emphasis was very slight,
But rested on “Take in.”)
They needed not a second call,
They took the hint. Oh, —yes,
The largest guest “took in” the small,
The small “took in” the less,
The less “took in” the least of all.
(It was a great success!)
As for the rest—but why spin out
This narrative of woe?—
The Lion took them in about
As fast as they could go.
(And went home looking very stout,
And walking very slow.)
And when the Ant, not long ago,
Lost to all sense of shame,
Tried it again, I chance to know
That not one answer came.
(Save from the Fish, who “could not go,
But thanked her all the same.”)
Antoine-Louis Barye. Lion Sleeping. Watercolor on wove paper, lined, 1810-75, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.
HERFORD, OLIVER. “THE ARTFUL ANT,” IN ARTFUL ANTICKS, 4-9. NEW YORK: THE CENTURY CO., 1897.
Contexts
In a Life Magazine issue from November 1894, editor Robert Bridges noted that, in Artful Anticks, “when [Oliver Herford] makes rhymes about a kitten, a dormouse, a spider, or a crocodile, you are absolutely certain that he has put himself on such friendly terms with each animal that he is not only able to reveal the quirks of its mind, but draw a picture of them. That is why grown folks will get as much fun out of this book as children.”
Herford was a well-known poet, humorist writer, and illustrator.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
artful: Skilfully adapted for the accomplishment of a purpose; ingenious, clever. Hence: cunning, crafty, deceitful.
festal: Characteristic of a feast; (hence also) joyous or celebratory in tone; (of a person or group) in a festive or holiday mood.
five-score: Rarely used for “a hundred” (from Shakespeare).
Isaac Sprague. Sweet White Violet. Lithograph, ca. 1876-1882, Digital Commonwealth. Public Domain.
THE PROFESSOR.
Tell me, little violet white,
If you will be so polite,
Tell me how it came that you
Lost your pretty purple hue?[1]
Were you blanched with sudden fears?
Were you bleached with fairies’ tears?
Or was Dame Nature out of blue,
Violet, when she came to you?
THE VIOLET.
Tell me, silly mortal, first,
Ere I satisfy your thirst
For the truth concerning me ¬—
Why you are not like a tree?
Tell me why you move around,
Trying different kinds of ground,
With your funny legs and boots
In the place of proper roots?
Tell me, mortal, why your head,
Where green branches ought to spread,
Is as shiny smooth as glass,
With just a fringe of frosty grass?
Tell me—Why, he’s gone away!
Wonder why he wouldn’t stay?
Can he be—well, I declare! —
Sensitive about his hair?
Original illustration by Oliver Herford from Artful Anticks, p. 58.
HERFORD, OLIVER. “THE PROFESSOR AND THE WHITE VIOLET,” IN ARTFUL ANTICKS, 58-9. NEW YORK: THE CENTURY CO., 1894.
[1] The viola blanda, also known as sweet white violet, is a perennial plant native to North America.
Contexts
In a Life Magazine issue from November 1894, editor Robert Bridges noted that, in Artful Anticks, “when [Oliver Herford] makes rhymes about a kitten, a dormouse, a spider, or a crocodile, you are absolutely certain that he has put himself on such friendly terms with each animal that he is not only able to reveal the quirks of its mind, but draw a picture of them. That is why grown folks will get as much fun out of this book as children.”
Herford was a well-known poet, humorist writer, and illustrator.
Mary Nimmo Moran. Across the Water. Etching on paper, ca. 1880-1890, Smithsonian Art Museum. Public Domain.
I.
“Stop! stop! pretty water,”
Said Mary one day,
To a frolicsome brook
That was running away.
II.
“You run on so fast!
I wish you would stay;
My boat and my flowers
You will carry away.
III.
“But I will run after;
Mother says that I may;
For I would know where
You are running away.”
IV.
So Mary ran on;
But I have heard say
That she never could find
Where the brook ran away.
FOLLEN, ELIZA LEE. “STOP! STOP! PRETTY WATER,” IN LITTLE SONGS, 16-7. BOSTON: WHITTEMORE & CO., 1856.
Contexts
Eliza Lee Follen (1787-1860) was an abolitionist, editor, and writer. In her preface to the first edition of Little Songs, published in 1833, she wrote:
“The little folks must decide whether the book is entertaining. To them I present my little volume, with the earnest hope that it will receive their approbation. If children love to lisp my rhymes, while parents find no fault in them, I ask no higher praise.”
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
frolicsome: Full of frolic; gay, merry, mirthful..
Original illustration by Edwin Willard Deming from American Animal Life, p. 68.
R
ed fox is one of the wisest and most cunning of little creatures, with so little feat of man that he prefers to live neat settlements, where he can poach upon the farmer’s chickens and fowl to help out his menu of mice and rabbits, birds and other wood folk.[1]
The foxes make dens in the midst of big tree forests, or in crevices among the rocks, where the vixen (mother) hides her four of five cubs while she goes out to find food to bring home. She always travels in a roundabout way, to and from her den, so that her enemies cannot find the way. She never leaves any refuse about her doorway that might attract the attention of man or animal folk who may be hunting about her domain.[2]
On sunny days the vixen takes her fox cubs out into the sunshine to play. They may never have seen man, yet they run and hide at his approach; but if caught, they make very lovely little pets.
Some friends, hunting in New Brunswick, caught a little fox cub and put him into a box cage.[3] They shot Canadian jays for their little captive, and the cunning little fellow carried each on into his box to hide it, until he had his box so full that he could not get into it himself. He became very tame and played all day; but at night the hunters would awaken to hear his plaintive little bark, then off in the distance would come the answer comr the poorl old vixen, who was mourning the loss of her little one, while the screech-owl flew from limb to limb, seeming to laugh at the troubles of the poor mother trying to quiet her lost one.
During the nesting season, the red fox destroys quantities of quail and partridge nests. He is hunted with hounds and seems to enjoy the sport as much as his pursuers, leading them a merry chase, often running the top rail of a fence or jumping from stone to stone. Should he get far ahead, he will stop and wait for the hounds to catch up, then off he runs again and often gets away finally, to hide and rest in his den. If he should suddenly come upon a hunter, he will show no signs of fear, but just pretend he never saw him, and gradually work away until he is over some small hill, then he will run as fast as he can, to get out of the way.
He is the handsomest and most valuable fox from the Southern Alleghanies to Point Barrow, wearing many different suits in different parts of the country, from yellow-red to the palest of bleached-out colors on the sun-kissed desert, and very bright colors in the forest regions of Alaska.
He is so cunning and so well able to care for himself that it is not so easy to exterminate him as it is other animals less wise.
The black-cross fox and the silver fox are just two different phases of the same red fox.
The red fox has a very keen sense of hearing. He depends more upon his ears and nose than upon his eyes in detecting the approach of danger or in locating his prey. When he gets scent of a rabbit, he is happy: for rabbits are his favorite food, and poor little molly-cottontail must always be watchful or she will be caught. Should she not see her enemy until he is almost upon her, she will lie very close to the ground, behind a bunch of grass or a bush, and never move. Often the hunter will pass her by; but sometimes she has a hard run to save her life, and many times. poor thing, she is caught.
The cottontail is the smallest of the rabbit family and is found all over the country. She burrows in the ground for a home; but, unfortunately, she has not learned to make herself a back door, to escape in time of danger, for members of the weasel or marten families follow this creature into her home.
Original illustration by Edwin Willard Deming from American Animal Life, p. 71.
Like all rabbits she has regular runways or trails through the woods; but on moonlight nights she will come out into the clearings, with her relatives, and romp, play and frisk about in the moonlight, having a lively time. Suddenly one of the brothers will stamp his feet, and in a second all have disappeared and run for safety. Most people might have wondered what the matter was. Little Brother Rabbit knew, for almost instantly, Ko-Ko-Kas, the big brown owl, flew over the clearing and each little rabbit was glad he had heard and obeyed the warning. Had he not he would have suffered more than when Chief Rabbit refused to go to a council called by Owl. Owl was chief then, and called four times, but the Rabbit did not answer. Then he told the Rabbit his ears would grow until he came to the council. We all know how long his ears grew; and they might have been much longer had not the Rabbit answered and run to the council as fast as he could go.
Original illustration by Edwin Willard Deming from American Animal Life, p. 72.
DEMING, THERESE OSTERHELD. “RED FOX AND COTTON TAIL,” IN AMERICAN ANIMAL LIFE, 67-76. NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES, 1916.
[1] In addition to rodents, rabbits, birds, and amphibians, the diet of red foxes also includes fruit.
[2] Interestingly, red foxes rarely sleep in their dens, but out in the open. They will only sleep in their burrows during extreme weather or, in the case of female foxes, while raising their kits.
[3] New Brunswick is a province of Canada.
Contexts
American Life is one of a series of books written by Therese Osterheld Deming and illustrated by Edwin Willard Deming. After marrying in 1892, the Demings frequently worked together. Edward Willard Deming was an American painter and sculptor who, after studying in Paris in 1884 and 1885, lived in proximity to various Indigenous American tribes. These experiences informed most of his work.
By Comte de Buffon, translated by Daniel Alexander Payne (Bishop Payne)
Annotations by Rene Marzuk
Martin Johnson Heade. Amethyst Woodstar. Oil on canvas, ca. 1863-1864, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR). Public Domain.
Beautiful and useful translations from the French of Buffon. By BISHOP PAYNE. [Original byline in the Repository of Religion and Literature, and of Science and Art.]
Of all animated beings, behold the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stones and the metals polished by our art, are not comparable to this jewel of nature: in the order of birds she has placed it, in the last degree of the scale of size; her master-piece is the little humming-bird: she has overwhelmed her, with all the gifts she has divided among other birds; lightness, rapidity, swiftness, grace, and rich attire, all appertain to this little favorite.[1] The emerald, the ruby, the topaz, glitter upon its robes: it never soils them with the dust of the earth, and in its life all aereal, one hardly sees it touch the grass by moments; it is always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness, as it has their brilliance; it lives upon their nectar, and it dwells in climates, where, without ceasing, it renews itself.
It is in the warmest countries of the New World, where one finds all the species of the humming-birds; they are very numerous, and appear to be confined between the two tropics; for those of them that advance into the temperate zones, there may be but a short sojourn: they seem to follow the movements of the sun, to advance, and to retire with him, and to fly upon the wings of zephyrs, in the retinue of an eternal spring.[2]
The Indians, smitten by the splendor of the fire which radiate from the colors of these brilliant birds, have given to them the name of rays and hues of the sun.[3] The smallest species of these birds are less than the ox-fly in length, and the drone-bee in thickness. [4] Their bill is like a fine needle, and their tongue, as a delicate thread; their little black eyes appear as just two brilliant points; the plumes of their wings are so delicate, that they appear transparent. Their feet are so short and small, that one with difficulty perceives them; they make but little use of them; they only set them down to sleep during the night, and during the day keep them pendant in the air; their flight is continuous, rapid, and humming; and some one has compared the noice of their wings to that of a spinning-wheel. Their clapping is so swift, that the bird in the air, stopping itself, appear not only immoveable, but all at once without action. One may see it thus arrest itself for a few moments before a flower, and then to dart from it like an arrow to another; it visits all; plunges its little tongue into their bosoms; caressing it with its wings, without alighting upon them, but also without ever quitting them.
He passes his inconstancies, but for the better to follow his loves, and to multiply its innocent enjoyments; for this lover, by slighting its flowers, lives at their expense, without withering them. He does but pump their honey, and it is to this use that his tongue seems to be so uniquely destined, it is composed of two hollow fibres, forming one little canal, divided at the end into two fillets; it has the form of a proboscis, and performs the functions of that instrument; the bird darts it out of his bill and plunges it into the bottom of the cup of the flowers, and thus extracts the nectar from them. Nothing equals the vivacity of these little birds, if it be not their courage, or rather, their audacity. One may often see them pursuing, with fury, some birds twenty times their size, attaching themselves to their bodies, and alluring them to carry them in their flight, peck them with repeated blows.[5]
Impatience seems to be their soul; if they approach a flower, and find it withered, they pluck out its petals, with a precipitation that marks its spite. The nest which they construct, respond to the delicacy of their bodies; it is made either of fine cotton or a silken hair, gathered from certain flowers; this nest is strongly tissued, and of the consistence of a soft and downy skin; the female charges herself with the work, and leave to the male the care of bringing the materials. One may see her at this cherished work, seeking, choosing, employing, blade by blade, such fibres as are proper to form the tissue of that soft cradle, which is designed for its progeny. She polishes the borders of it with her neck, and the interior with her tail; she coats it on the outside with little pieces of the bark of resinous plants, which she glues around it, to defend it from the injuries of the air, so as to render it more solid; the whole is attached to two leaves, or to a single blade of the orange or citron tree; or sometimes to a straw which hangs at the eves of a cottage. This nest is no bigger than the half of an apricot, and formed like a half cup. One there finds two eggs all white, and no larger than little peas, The male and the female cover them by turns, during twelve days; the little ones are hatched on the thirteenth, and are then no larger than some flies. “I have never been able to discover,” says P. Durterte, “what kind of billfull the mother gives them, only that she gives them her tongue to suck, while yet it is enameled with the sugar drawn from the flowers.” [6]
Martin Johnson Heade. Hummingbird and Passionflowers. Oil on canvas, ca. 1875-85, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, NY). Public Domain.
BUFFON (TRANSLATED BY BISHOP PAYNE). “THE HUMMING-BIRD.” REPOSITORY OF RELIGION AND LITERATURE, AND OF SCIENCE AND ART’S VOL. III, NO. 3 (JULY 1861): 122-4.
[1] “. . . in the last degree of the scale of size”: The Bee Hummingbird, which can be found in Cuba, is not only the smallest hummingbird, but also the smallest bird in the world.
[2] “It is in the warmest countries of the New World . . .”: There are almost 340 species of hummingbirds in the world, all of them occurring, in fact, in the American continent.
[4] The ox-fly, also known as warble fly, refers to a kind of large flies that lay their eggs on mammals. A drone-bee is a male honey bee.
[5] Hummingbirds can be aggressive and territorial. Males will usually fight each other to assert their breeding grounds. Interestingly, the symbols of authority of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of sun and war, are the hummingbird and fire. In fact, Huitzilopochtli means “blue hummingbird on the left.”
The Repository of Religion and Literature, and of Science and Arts was a short-lived (1858-63) quarterly for Black children published by a group of African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) societies. Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne (1811-1893), who translated “The Humming-Bird,” was one of the magazine editors and a main figure in the A.M.E. He was also an educator, administrator, and author. George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1749-1788), was an influential French naturalist.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
aereal: Aerial. Dwelling, flying, or moving in the air, above the earth; occurring or taking place in the air; (spec. of birds or bats) spending much of the time airborne.
appertain: To belong as parts to the whole, or as members to a family or class, and hence, to the head of the family; to be related, akin to.
proboscis: Any of various elongated, tubular, and usually flexible mouthparts of insects, used for sucking liquids and sometimes for piercing, as in bees, flies, mosquitoes, bugs, and butterflies and moths (in which it is coiled when not in use).
progeny: Offspring, issue, children; descendants. Occasionally: a child, a descendant; a family.
Interactive experience designed to accompany a 2020 exhibition about Martin Johnson Heade’s hummingbird paintings. Courtesy of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR).
Illustration from the cover of How to Grow Roses, thirteenth edition, 1920, published by The Conard & Jones Co.
In a lovely garden filled with fair and blooming flowers stood a beautiful rose tree.[1] It was the centre of attraction and won the admiration of every eye; its beauteous flowers were sought to adorn the bridal wreath and deck the funeral bier. It was a thing of joy and beauty, and its earth mission was a blessing. Kind hands plucked its flowers to gladden the chamber of sickness and adorn the prisoner’s lonely cell. Young girls wore them ’mid their clustering curls, and grave brows relaxed when they gazed upon their wondrous beauty.—Now the rose was very kind and generous hearted, and seeing how much joy she dispensed wished that every flower could only be a rose and like herself have the privilege of giving joy to the children of men; and while she thus mused a bright and lovely spirit approached her and said, “I know thy wishes and will grant thy desires.—Thou shall have power to change every flower in the garden to thine own likeness. When the soft winds come wooing thy fairest buds and flowers, thou shalt breathe gently on thy sister plants, and beneath thy influence they shall change to beautiful roses.” The rose tree bowed her head in silent gratitude to the gentle being who had granted her this wondrous power. All night the stars bent over her from their holy homes above, but she scarcely heeded their vigils. The gentle dews nestled in her arms and kissed the cheeks of her daughters; but she hardly noticed them;—she was waiting for the soft airs to awaken and seek her charming abode. At length the gentle airs greeted her and she hailed them with a joyous welcome, and then commenced her work of change. The first object that met her vision was a tulip superbly arrayed in scarlet and gold. When she was aware of the intention
Ellen T. Fisher. Tulips. Color Chromolithograph, ca. 1861-1897, Boston Public Library. Public Domain.
of her neighbor her cheeks flamed with anger, her eyes flashed indignantly, and she haughtily refused to change her proud robes for the garb the rose tree had prepared for her, but she could not resist the spell that was upon her. And she passively permitted the garments of the rose to enfold her yielding limbs.—The verbenas saw the change that had fallen upon the tulip, and dreading that a similar fate awaited them crept closely to the ground, and while tears gathered in their eyes, they felt a change pass through their sensitive frames, and instead of gentle verbenas they were blushing roses. She breathed upon the sleepy poppies; a deeper slumber fell upon their senses, and when they awoke, they too had changed to bright and beautiful roses. The heliotrope read her fate in the lot of her sisters, and bowing her fair head in silent sorrow, gracefully submitted to her unwelcome destiny. The violets, whose mission was to herald the approach, were averse to losing their individuality. Surely, said they, we have a mission as well as the rose;
Ellen T. Fisher. Poppies No. 3. Color Chromolithograph, c. 1886, Boston Public Library. Public Domain
but with heavy hearts they saw themselves changed like their sister plants. The snow drop drew around her her robes of virgin white; she would not willingly exchange them for the most brilliant attire that ever decked a flower’s form; to her they were the emblems of purity and innocence; but the rose tree breathed upon her, and with a bitter sob she reluctantly consented to the change. The dahlias lifted their heads proudly and defiantly; they dreaded the change but scorned submission; they loved the fading year, and wished to spread around his dying couch their brightest, fairest flowers; but vainly they struggled, the doom was upon them, and they could not escape. A modest lily that grew near the rose tree shrank instinctively from her; but it was in vain, and with tearful eyes and trembling lips she yielded, while a quiver of agony convulsed her frame. The marygolds sighed submissively and made no remonstrance. The garden pinks grew careless and submitted without a murmur; while other flowers less fragrant or less
Auguste Schmidt. Floral Arrangement with Violets. Color chromolithograph, ca. 1861-1897, Boston Public Library. Public Domain.
fair paled with sorrow or reddened with anger, but the spell of the rose tree was upon them and every flower was changed by her power, and that once beautiful garden was overrun with roses; it had become a perfect wilderness of roses; the garden had changed, but that variety which had lent it so much beauty was gone, and men grew tired of the roses, for they were everywhere. The smallest violet peeping faintly from its bed would have been welcome, the humblest primrose would have been hailed with delight;—even a dandelion would have been a harbinger of joy, and when the rose saw that the children of men were dissatisfied with the change
Ellen T. Fisher. Marigolds. Color chromolithograph, ca. 1861-1897, Boston Public Library. Public Domain.
she had made, her heart grew sad within her, and she wished the power had never been given her to change her sister plants to roses, and tears come into her eyes as she mused, when suddenly a rough wind shook her drooping form and she opened her eyes and found that she had only been dreaming. But an important lessons had been taught; she had learned to respect the individuality of her sister flowers and began to see that they, as well as herself, had their own missions,—some to gladden the eye with their loveliness and thrill the soul with delight; some to transmit fragrance to the air; others to breathe a refining influence upon the world; some had power to lull the aching brow and soothe the weary heart and brain into forgetfulness, and of those whose mission she did not understand she wisely concluded there must be some object in their creation, and resolved to be true to her own earth mission and lay her fairest buds and flowers upon the altars of love and truth.
WATKINS, FRANCES E. “THE MISSION OF THE FLOWERS.” REPOSITORY OF RELIGION AND LITERATURE, AND OF SCIENCE AND ART’S VOL. III, NO. 1 (JANUARY 1860): 26-8.
[1] A Tree Rose or Rose Standard is not a rose variety, but the result of grafting a regular rose plant onto a trunk to achieve the appearance of a tree.
Verbena (Verbena chamaedrifolia), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Heliotrope (Heliotropium Peruvianum), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Snowdrop (Galanthus Nivalis), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.
Lily of the Valley (Convallaria Majalis), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dahlia (Dahlia Coccinea), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.
Pinks (Dianthus Caryophyllus), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Primrose (Primula Vulgaris), from the Flowers series for Old Judge Cigarettes. Commercial color lithograph, 1890, printed by George S. Harris & Sons, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Contexts
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was an African American public speaker, poet, teacher, and social activist. As a public intellectual, she advocated for antislavery, education, and temperance. Her short story “The Two Offers,” which appeared in 1859 in consecutive issues of The Anglo-African Magazine, is the first short story published by an African American writer in the United States.
The Repository of Religion and Literature, and of Science and Arts was a short-lived (1858-63) quarterly for Black children published by a group of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) societies.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
emblem: A picture of an object (or the object itself) serving as a symbolical representation of an abstract quality, an action, state of things, class of persons, etc.
beauteous: Highly pleasing to the senses, esp. the sight; beautiful; (also, in recent use) sensuously alluring, voluptuous. Chiefly literary.
bier: The movable stand on which a corpse, whether in a coffin or not, is placed before burial; that on which it is carried to the grave.
vigil: An occasion or period of keeping awake for some special reason or purpose; a watch kept during the natural time for sleep.
Resources for Further Study
Tabitha Lowery’s scholarly essay “‘Thank God for Little Children’: The Reception History of Frances E. W. Harper’s Children’s Poetry,” included in volume 67, number 2, of ESQ: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture (2021).
The house where Frances Ellen Watkins Harper lived in Philadelphia, PA, from 1870 until 1911 is a National Historic Landmark.
Ernst Haeckel. Trochilidae. Illustration, 1904, Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
All the readers of Our Young Folks must remember Mrs. Stowe’s charming sketch of Hum the Son of Buz, which appeared in its first number.[1] It was an interesting account of the peculiar habits of a young Ruby-throated Humming-Bird, for several weeks her petted companion. Some novel facts in regard to the food and manner of life of these tiny specimens of bird-kind were there presented with a freshness that gave them great interest. We shall endeavor to give a general account of this wonderfully beautiful family of birds, although we cannot hope to invest it with an equal charm.
No birds are so universally attractive as the Humming-Birds. They are the smallest in size, the most brilliantly beautiful in plumage, and have the most numerous varieties of any of the feathered families.[2] They are found nowhere except in the New World, but here they may be met with anywhere, from the Falkland Islands of South America almost to Greenland in North America. They are most abundant in the warmer portions of the continent, especially in the West India Islands and in Central America and the northern states of South America.
More than three hundred different kinds of Humming-Birds have been already described, and our best-informed naturalists believe that not less than four hundred exist. So far as men of science have studied their habits, it has been found that all these different varieties have very nearly the same peculiarities, modified chiefly by the differences in their places of residence. Some Humming-Birds, like our common Ruby-throat, are found scattered over a very large extent of country. This variety occurs in all the United States, and as far north as the Arctic regions; other kinds are found only in small lonely islands. Some Humming-Birds remain all the year in the same localities; others only visit certain parts of America during the warm season.[3]
The food of Humming-Birds is now known to consist almost entirely of insects. They were once supposed to subsist chiefly on the sweets they obtained from honey-bearing flowers, and in confinement they have been made to live partly upon sweetened water; but the honey of plants is not alone their natural food, and is insufficient for them.
In order to obtain its insect-food the Humming-Bird is provided with a tongue of very peculiar structure, the anterior portions of which are made up of two long and hollow thread-like tubes. These unite behind and are closed at the end, as represented, magnified, in the figures below. This forked and hollow tongue the bird thrusts in and out of the tube-shaped flowers with the rapidity of a flash, and captures the minute insects lodged in their depths.[4]
M.E.D. Brown. Humming Birds / from Life & on Stone. Print: Lithograph, ca. 1832, Library of Congress. Public Domain.
These tiny birds are adorned with more brilliant plumage than any other family of the whole feathered tribe. It is impossible to give our young readers any adequate description of the beauty and variety of the bright colors of nearly all Humming- Birds. These colors excite wonder and admiration, even when prepared for exhibition in ornithological collections; but when living the brilliancy of their colors is far greater than when dead.
Travellers who have seen them flitting about like beams of variously tinted light in the dark green woods of their native forests tell us they know nothing in nature that can be compared with them. Even the colors of the topaz, the emerald, the ruby, and the amethyst, to which the bright tints of the Humming-Birds have been likened, pale in the comparison. The various hues of all these gems are often seen combined in the plumage of the same bird, now one appearing and now another, with the changes of light and shade.
Without attempting to give a learned account of the different classes into which naturalists now divide Humming-Birds, we will mention only a few of the more marked differences which distinguish them. Some have perfectly straight bills; others have bills very much curved. These are nearly all tropical varieties, living the year round in the same climate. A few varieties have bills which curve upwards in a very singular manner,—an admirable adaptation for reaching up into flowers growing in the forms of pendent tubes or bells. Formerly all Humming-Birds were divided into two classes,—those with straight bills and those with curved bills. But later writers have subdivided the straight-billed into two classes and the curved-billed into three. The first two are those with short rounded tail-feathers, and those with very long and forked tails. These are all or nearly all birds of temperate climates, migrating from them in the colder season. The three varieties of the curved-billed birds are those with long centre tail-feathers, those with curious sabre-like wing-feathers and rounded tails, and those with very short tails and very much rounded bills.
In the tropical regions of America Humming-Birds in great number and variety swarm throughout the forests. In other portions of the same country, where the forests have been cut down and the land tilled, the Humming-Birds equally abound, and seem to delight in the society of man. As we recede from the warm regions their numbers decrease. Some are found in very high northern latitudes, others in equally far southern regions, while others seem to prefer high mountains, where the temperature is quite low. We have the nest of a South American Humming-Bird, which the late Captain Couthouy found on the eastern slope of Mount Pichincha, at a height of ten thousand five hundred feet.[5] Another traveller met with Humming- Birds flying about in a snow-storm near the Straits of Magellan.[6]
Martin Johnson Heade. Two Humming Birds: “Copper-tailed Amazili.” Oil on canvas, ca. 1865-1875, Brooklyn Museum (NY). Public Domain.
The habits of all Humming-Birds are so very nearly alike that a description of the peculiarities of one will serve for them all. They are almost always on the wing, moving with great rapidity and ease. They flit about in short, quick flights. Like flashes of light they dart now this way and now that. Their wings are so constructed as to give them the power of hovering over a flower and keeping themselves in this position a long time; some writers say, for hours.[7]
Their boldness and intrepidity is surprising in birds so small. They do not hesitate to attack birds greatly their superiors in strength that approach too near their nests, or even to fly in the face of any intruder when they have young. This boldness and anxiety is often fatal, betraying their nests to the naturalist seeking them for his collection.
The nests of Humming-Birds are built with exquisite delicacy, of soft materials, and are warm, compact, and strong. They are placed on the horizontal branches of trees, a few feet from the ground, and are usually made of silky vegetable down. Over this they fasten, with their saliva, a strong covering of gray moss. This appears to be an instinctive endeavor to conceal their nest by making it resemble the moss-covered limb on which it is built. It is a curious fact that often this mossy covering is not put on until after the female has occupied the nest, her mate busying himself with completing the moss-work while she is sitting upon her eggs.
But the nests of Humming-Birds are not alike. Some vary in their materials, others in their shape. One kind builds a hanging nest under a large leaf. It is curiously wrought of spiders’ webs, and has its opening underneath. The smallest known bird of this family is found in the island of Jamaica.[8] It is only two inches long, and its outstretched wings are only three inches across. Its nest is not larger than a thimble, and is woven of spiders’ threads and silk and covered on the outside with fine moss. The eggs are very small, looking like little white homœopathic pills. The Humming- Bird’s eggs are always white, and only two in number.[9]
Many attempts have been made to domesticate Humming-Birds, but these have been only partially successful. The birds have soon died, probably from change of diet, or from inability to endure the extremes of cold and heat. If a substitute for their natural food could be found, they would probably live and thrive in confinement, and become very tame and familiar.[10]
Martin Johnson Heade. Hummingbird and Apple Blossoms. Oil on canvas, 1875, Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY). Public Domain.
Several instances are known of their being kept in this manner, and in every case they have been, like Mrs. Stowe’s pet, very docile and affectionate. A young Englishman, as he was about to sail from Jamaica, caught a Mango Humming-Bird on her nest, and, cutting off the twig on which the latter was built, brought nest, eggs, and parent on board. The bird was fed with honey and water, became tame, and hatched out two young birds during the passage. The mother died, but the young birds were brought to England, and were for some weeks in the possession of Lady Hammond, readily taking honey from her lips. One of them lived two months after its arrival.
Within the limits of the United States seven different kinds of Humming-Birds are found, though two of them are very rare and may not belong here.[11] These are the Black-throated or Mango Humming-Bird, one of the curved-billed or tropical forms.[12] This is a common West-Indian variety, and is only found in our most southern State, Florida, and rarely there. Its plumage is resplendent with a metallic lustre of green and gold.
The Black-chinned Humming-Bird of California is similar to our common variety.[14]
The Red-backed Humming-Bird is the most common kind in the States on the Pacific, and is found from the Gulf of California to Nootka Sound.[15] It is very prettily marked, but is not a brilliant bird, having very little lustre in its plumage.
The Broad-tailed Humming-Bird is only found in Texas, and is also very much like the common Ruby-throat.[16]
Our most beautiful variety, the Anna Humming-Bird,—so called in honor of Anna, Duchess of Rivoli, a lady greatly distinguished for her love of natural history, —is very abundant in California.[17] Its entire head, neck, and throat are covered with feathers of a bright metallic amethystine red color. One other variety, with no common name, about which little is known, has been found on the southern borders of California. It most resembles the Anna Humming-Bird.
BREWER, T. M. [THOMAS MAYO]. “ABOUT HUMMING-BIRDS.” OUR YOUNG FOLKS. AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE’S VOL. V, NO. IX(SEPTEMBER 1869): 578-82.
[1] The author references Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sketch “Hum, the Son of Buz,” also included in our anthology.
[2] There are almost 340 species of hummingbirds in the world, all of them occurring in the American continent.
[5] In part IV of the series of essays “Bird Architecture,” published in Scribner’s Monthly on December, 1878, pp. 161-76, Thomas Brewer refers to a hummingbird nest he received from the late Captain Joseph Couthouy, “taken by him, with its owner, near the snow-line on Mount Pichincha, at a height of 10,500 feet” (p. 168). Brewer identifies the bird as an Eriocnemis luciani. Mount Pichincha is located in Ecuador.
[6] The Strait of Magellan (Estrecho de Magallanes) is a channel that links the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean in South America. It is 350 miles long and 2-20 miles wide.
[7] Watch hummingbirds in flight in this video from Terra Mater.
[8] The smallest hummingbird, which is also the smallest bird in the world, it is actually found in Cuba, not Jamaica. It is known as Bee Hummingbird.
[9] Although two is the typical size of hummingbird clutches, sometimes they will also lay either one or three eggs. Hummingbirds’ nests, the smallest bird nests in the world, are woven with spiderweb thread and camouflaged with other materials.
[10] Trapping or keeping hummingbirds in captivity is illegal in the United States. They are a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
[11] According to the American Bird Conservancy‘s website, there are fifteen types of hummingbirds in the United States, without counting nine vagrant species.
John Abbot. Red Throated Hummingbird (Troculis Colubris). Transparent and opaque watercolor and graphite on paper, 1791, Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Public Domain.
Thomas Mayo Brewer (1814-1880) was an American naturalist. Trained as a doctor, he gave up medicine and dedicated himself to the sudy of birds and their eggs. In the nineteenth century, Europe became fascinated with hummingbirds and “hundreds of thousands were hunted and killed for their skin.” In fact, the commercial trade in bird feathers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries sparked the fierce conservation movement that led to the creation of the National Audubon Societies. Many activists were women who opposed the killing of birds for the sake of the latest fashions.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
amethystine: Of a colour: resembling amethyst. Of an object: amethyst-coloured; violet-purple.
homœopathic: Very small or minute, like the doses usually given in homoeopathy. (Often humorous.)
ornithological: Of or relating to birds; avian.
pendent: Hanging; suspended from or as from the point of attachment, with the point or end hanging downwards; dependent. Of a tree: having branches that hang or droop down.
topaz: The name given (with or without distinguishing adjunct) to several highly valued precious stones. Also, the dark yellow colour of topaz.
Interactive experience designed to accompany a 2020 exhibition about Martin Johnson Heade’s hummingbird paintings. Courtesy of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR).
John Frederick Kensett. Lake George. Oil on canvas, 1869, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Public Domain.
Oh! Aunty, it has done raining! The sun is shining so brightly; we are going to the Lake to fish — Papa says so — you and Papa, and Bell, and Harry, and Emma, and Agnes, and our dog Bruno.
Of course, Aunty, who was always on hand for such trips, wasn’t five minutes springing to her feet, and in less than half an hour Pat stood at the door with the carriage, (that somehow or other always held as many as wanted to go, whether it were five, or forty-five;) “Papa” twisting the reins over hats and bonnets with the dexterity of a Jehu;[1] jolt — jolt — on we go, over pebblestones — over plank roads — past cottages — past farms — up hill and down, till we reach “the Lake.”
Shall I tell you how we tip-toed into the little egg-shell boats? How, after a great deal of talk, we all were seated to our minds — how each one had a great fishing rod put into our hands — how Aunty, (who never fished before,) got laughed at for refusing to stick the cruel hook into the quivering little minnows used for “bait” — and how, when they fixed it for her, she forgot all about moving it round, so beautiful was the “blue above, and the blue below,” [2] until a great fish twitched at her line, telling her to leave off dreaming and mind her business — and how it made her feel so bad to see them tear the hook from the mouth of the poor fish she was so un-lucky as to catch, that she coaxed them to put her ashore, telling them it was pleasure not pain she came after — and how they laughed and floated off down the Lake, leaving her on a green moss patch, under a big tree — and how she rambled all along shore gathering the tiniest little shells that ever a wave tossed up —and how she took off her shoes and stockings and dipped her feet in the cool water, and listened to the bees’ drowsy hum from the old tree trunk close by, and watched the busy ant stagger home, under the weight of his well earned morsel — and how she made a bridge of stones over a little streamlet to pluck some crimson lobelias, growing on the other side, and some delicate, bell-shaped flowers, fit only for a fairy’s bridal wreath,[3] — and how she wandered till sunset came on, and the Lake’s pure breast was all a-glow, and then, how she lay under that old tree, listening to the plashing waves, and watching the little birds, dipping their golden wings into the rippling waters, then soaring aloft to the rosy tinted clouds? Shall I tell you how the grand old hills, forest crowned, stretched off into the dim distance — and how sweet the music of childhood’s ringing laugh, heard from the far-off shore — or how Aunty thought ’twas such a pity that sin, and tears, and sorrow, should ever blight so fair a world?
But Aunty mustn’t make you sad; here come the children leaping from the boat; they v’e “caught few fish,” but a great deal of sunshine, (judging from their happy faces.) God bless the little voyagers, all; the laughing Agnes, the pensive Emma, the dove-eyed, tender-hearted Mary, the rosy Bell, the fearless Harry. In the green pastures by the still waters, may the dear Shepherd fold them.
Winslow Homer. Woman with Flower. Watercolor, 1880, Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
FERN, FANNY. “The Lake Trip; Or, Going a Fishing,” IN Little Ferns for Fanny’s Little Friends, 27-9. Auburn and Buffalo: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1854.
[1] In the Bible’s Old Testament, before leading the revolt after which he would become king of Israel, Jehu was a commander of chariots.
[2] The line “with the blue above, and the blue below” comes from “The Sea,” a poem by English poet Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874), who wrote under the pen name of Barry Cornwall. You can find the full poem here.
Mary Vaux Walcott. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia Cardinalis). Watercolor on paper, 1878, Smithsonian American Art Museum (D.C.). Public Domain.
[3] Cardinal flower (Lobelia Cardinalis) is a native American herbaceous perennial in the bellflower family. Its bright red flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds.
Contexts
Fanny Fern (born Sara Payson Willis; 1811-1872) was a very popular newspaper columnist, novelist, and children’s writer. She became the first woman columnist in the United States. From the 1850s to the 1870s, Fern wrote articles and columns for periodicals like Olive Branch, True Flag, Musical World and Times, and New York Ledger. She was known by her irreverent and unapologetic style. During her lifetime, she published three books for children: Little Ferns for Fanny’s Little Friends (1853), The Play-Day Book (1857), and The New Story Book for Children (1864).
Resources for Further Study
During the first half of the nineteenth century, American attitudes toward nature shifted in part due to the influence of Romantic and Transcendental writers like William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Beautiful scenery, picturesque landscapes, and the aesthetic of nature in general began to be perceived as “important to people’s physical and spiritual health and communing with nature as communing with God.” These new perceptions developed into preservationist conservation ideas, to which we can trace, among others, the drive to create many of the protected spaces such as natural parks that we still enjoy today.
“Recreational Fishing in England and America” (Part 1 and Part 2).
L. Prang & Co. Bird’s Nest with Vines. Chromolithograph, ca. 1861-1897, Digital Commonwealth. Public Domain.
“To whit! To whit! To whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?”
“Not I,” said the cow, “moo, oo, moo, oo!
Such a thing I’d never do.
I gave you a wisp of hay,
But didn’t take your nest away:
Not I,” said the cow, “moo, oo, moo, oo!
Such a thing I’d never do!”
“To whit! To whit! To whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?”
“Bobolink! Bobolink!
Now, what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum tree to-day?”
“Not I,” said the dog, “bow wow!
I couldn’t be so mean, I trow–
I gave hairs the nest to make,
But the nest I did not take.
Not I,” said the dog, “bow wow!
I couldn’t be so mean I trow.”
“To whit! To whit! To whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice warm nest I made?”
“Bobolink! Bobolink!
Now, what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum tree to-day?”
“Coo, coo! Coo, coo! Coo, coo!
Let me speak a word, too–
Who stole that pretty nest
From little yellow-breast?”
“Not I,” said the sheep, “oh, no!
I would not treat a poor bird so.
I gave wool the nest to line,
But the nest was none of mine:
Baa, baa,” said the sheep, “oh, no!
I wouldn’t treat a poor bird so.”
Pages from “Who Stole the Bird’s Nest?” This accordion picture book was published by L. Prang & Company in 1864-65. In this edition, the text of the poem is slightly different from the original. There is no author or illustrator credit. Public Domain.
“To whit! To whit! To whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?”
“Bobolink! Bobolink!
Now, what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum tree to-day?”
“Coo, coo! Coo, coo! Coo, coo!
Let me speak a word, too–
Who stole that pretty nest
From little yellow-breast?”
“Caw, caw,” cried the crow,
I should like to know,
What thief took away
A bird’s nest to-day?”
“Cluck, cluck,” said the hen,
“Don’t ask me again,
Why! I haven’t a chick
That would do such trick.
We all gave her a feather,
And she wove them together.
I’d scorn to intrude
On her and her brood:
Cluck, cluck,” said the hen,
“don’t ask me again.”
“Chirr-a-whirr! Chirr-a-whirr!
All the birds make a stir!
Let us find out his name,
And all cry: ‘For shame!’”
“I would not rob a bird,”
Said little Mary Green;
“I think I never heard
Of anything so mean.”
“’T is very cruel, too,”
Said little Alice Neal;
“I wonder if he knew,
How sad the bird would feel!”
A little boy hung down his head,
And went and hid behind his bed;
For he stole that pretty nest,
From poor little yellow-breast;
And he felt so full of shame,
He didn’t like to tell his name.
L. Prang & Co. Bird’s Eggs. Chromolithograph, ca. 1861-1897, Digital Commonwealth. Public Domain.
CHILD, LYDIA MARIA. “WHO STOLE THE BIRD’S NEST,” IN STORIES FOR LITTLE CHILDREN, COMPILED BY SUSAN S. HARRIMAN, 117-21 [VOLUME ONE OF THE KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S HOUR, ED. BY LUCY WHEELOCK]. BOSTON, NEW YORK: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, 1920.
Contexts
Lydia Maria Child’s “Who Stole the Bird’s Nest?” was initially published in 1844 in the second volume of Child’s Flowers for Children. Its inclusion in Lucy Wheelock’s anthology for kindergarteners, more than seventy years later, attests to Child’s cultural influence and to the timelessness of the conservation drive that animates her poem.
Wheelock (1857-1946), main editor of the The Kindergarten Children’s Hour, was at one point the president of the International Kindergarten Union. Through her pedagogical practice, she supported the kindergarten reform in the United States and helped bridge early disagreements about how to teach 5-year-olds. She believed that kindergarten education could help tackle the cycle of poverty, a concern that remains relevant today.
The Kindergarten Children’s Hour was comprised of five illustrated volumes. Susan S. Harriman was in charge of the first one, a collection of stories and rhymes for little children. In the second, Maude C. Nash suggests home activities, while in the third Winthrop Packard turns her interactions with her own children in a series of “Talks to Children.” Following a logical progression, the fourth volume consisted of “Talks to Mothers.” In the fifth and final book, Alice Wyman anthologized songs and music for children.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
trow: To believe in or on; to have confidence in; to trust to. Obsolete or rare (archaic).
wisp: A handful, bunch, or small bundle (of hay, straw, grass, etc.).
Resources for Further Study
In addition to being a writer, Lydia Maria Child was also a prominent abolitionist and activist. She is one of the inductees at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
There is nothing birds will not try to integrate into their nests! Learn how to help them build safer nests by making safe materials available to them.
And here is what to do if you find a nest where it may not belong.
Original photograph by Gene Stratton-Porter from Morning Face, p. 24.
Every morning before we eat,
My mother prays a prayer sweet.
With folded hand and low-bowed head:
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
But I’d like tarts and ginger cakes,
Puffs and pie like grandmother makes.
So ’smorning I said my appetite
Must have a cake, or ’twouldn’t eat a bite.
Then mother said: “’Fore you get through,
You’ll find just bread and milk will do.”
She always lets me think things out,
But I went to the yard to pout,
What I saw there–Upon my word!
I’m glad I’m a girl–not a bird.
Redbreast pulled up a slick fishworm,[1]
To feed her child: it ate the squirm.
Bee-bird came flying close to me,[2]
And caught a stinging honey bee.
She pushed it down her young, alive.
She must have thought him a beehive.
Old warbler searched the twigs for slugs,[3]
Rose Grosbeak took potato bugs.[4]
Missus Wren snapped up a spider,[5]
To feed her baby, close beside her.
Little Kingbirds began to squall,[6]
Their mother hurried at their call.
She choked them with dusty millers.[7]
Cuckoos ate hairy caterpillars.[8]
Blue birds had worms, where I could see,[9]
For breakfast, in their hollow tree.
Then little Heron made me squeal,
Beside our lake he ate an eel.
When young Screech Owl gulped a whole mouse,[10]
I started fast for our nice house.
Right over me–for pit-tee sake,
Home flew a hawk, with a big snake!
So ’for my tummy got awful sick,
I ran and kissed my mother quick.
I acted just as fine as silk
And asked polite for bread and milk.
Original photograph by Gene Stratton-Porter from Morning Face, p. 26.
STRATTON-PORTER, GENE. “BREAD AND MILK,” IN MORNING FACE, 26-7. NEW YORK: DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY, 1916.
John J. Audubon. American Robin. Aquatint in color, 1832, Brooklyn Museum. Public Domain.
[1] Robin red-breast is one of the many names of the American Robin, one of the most popular backyard birds in North America. Early European settlers named the American Robin after the European Robin because of its reddish breast. However, the American Robin is actually a thrush.
[2] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name bee-bird can refer to either a Spotted Flycatcher or a hummingbird. Because the bird in Stratton-Porter’s poem catches a bee, we can safely assume the speaker refers to flycatchers, an heterogeneous group of migratory birds that breed in Indiana and feed on insects.
Wood Warbler, from the Birds of America Series (N4) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands. Commercial color lithograph, 1888, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.
[3] North America is home to more than 53 species of warblers, small to medium-sized songbirds.
[4] Listen to the distinctive songs and calls of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The potato bug, or Colorado potato beetle, is considered a pest of potato, eggplant, tomato, and pepper plants.
[6] Listen to the distinctive songs and calls of the Eastern Kingbird.
[7] The speaker is probably referring to miller moths, a generic name for moths, mainly army cutworms, which proliferate around homes. Coincidentally, the dusty miller (known as silver dust or silver ragwort as well), is also a perennial plant that is popular with gardeners because of its striking silvery leaves.
[8] Overview of the Black-billed Cuckoo, the most common of the three types living in North America–the others are the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the Mangrove Cuckoo.
[9] A guide to the Eastern Bluebird, courtesy of the Audubon Society.
[10] In addition to mammals like rats, mice, squirrels, moles, and rabbits, the Eastern screech-owl also feeds on insects, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and other birds.
Contexts
In her introduction to the 1996 anthology Coming Through the Swamp: The Nature Writings of Gene Stratton Porter, Sydney Landon Plum reveals that, after the commercial success of Gene Stratton-Porter’s 1909 novel A Girl of the Limberlost, the author and conservationist talked Doubleday, Page & Company into publishing once nature work for each of her subsequent novels. Morning Face, a collection of prose and poems published by Doubleday in 1916, probably saw the light as a result of this agreement. Most of the book’s illustrations are photographs by the author herself, an accomplished self-taught photographer. In fact, according to Plum, Stratton Porter “ardently supported the use of photography for nature study as a substitute for the common practice of killing scores of the natural subjects in order to study them.” As evident in the quatrain that serves as the dedication of Morning Face, Stratton-Porter had a juvenile audience in mind for this book, although one can also make the case that, by identifying herself with the “little girl with a face of morning,” she is also extending her appeal to the inner children within readers of all ages:
One little girl with a face of morning,
a wondering smile her lips adorning,
wishes her pictures and stories to share,
so she sends them to children, everywhere.
Resources for Further Study
Kathryn Aalto’s “The Legend of Limberlost,” available through the Smithsonian Magazine‘s website, offers a portrait of Stratton-Porter that emphasizes her love of nature and her conservationist efforts.
Gene Stratton-Porter’s Cabin at Wildflower Woods is a museum open to the public in Rome City, Indiana. Stratton-Porter designed the cabin, which was completed in 1914 and sits on 148 acres of fields, woods, and gardens.
An extensive list of Indiana’s bird species. Stratton-Porter lived most of her life in this state.
Enjoy this 1915 brief recording of Charles C. Gorst’s impressive imitations of the songs and calls of American birds, including the American Robin, the bluebird, and the cuckoo, which Stratton-Porter includes in her poem.
