There are traces of these old fences of which no record remains10, placed perhaps by the very earliest settler in a tract11 that he had cleared and which has since gone back to an almost primitive12 state. In an old woodland I once traced a fence by the long line of cypripediums in bloom, which were thriving in the mould of decayed fence-rails, a pretty if not permanent monument to departed worth.
A word more of these old fences in winter. When the snow beats across the field, it stops here and gracefully13 curves above it, arching the rails and vines until all is hidden, unless it be some lonely projecting stake, by which alone it communicates with the outside world. I rashly attempted once to go across-lots over a new country, and made a discovery. The snow-bound fence was but a drift, I thought, 197but it proved to be far different. The thick mat of hardy14 growths had kept back the snow, which was but a roof and did not wholly exclude the light. For some distance I could dimly make out the various growths, and each little cedar15 stood up as a sentinel. A loud word sounded and resounded16 as if I had spoken in an empty room or shouted in a long tunnel. The coldest day in the year could not inconvenience any creature that took shelter here, and I found later that life, both furred and feathered, knew the old fence far better than I did.
But this is the last day but one of August, and so nominally17 the end of summer. Only nominally, for these flowery meadows and sweet-scented fields contradict the almanac. This quiet nook in the Delaware meadows offers no intimation of autumn until October, and late in the month at that. The bees and buckwheat will see to this, or seem to, which is just as much to the purpose. To-day along the old worm-fence are many kingbirds, and, although mute, they are not moping. There is too much insect life astir for that. With them are orioles and bluebirds, the whole making a loose flock of perhaps a hundred 198birds. The bluebirds are singing, but in a half-hearted, melancholy18 way, reminding me of an old man who spent his time when over ninety in humming “Auld Lang Syne19.” Before the buckwheat has lost its freshness these birds will all be gone, but at what time the bluebirds part company with the others I do not know. They certainly do not regularly migrate, as do the others. There was a colony of them that lived for years in and about my barn, and one was as sure to see them in January as in June. No English sparrows could have been more permanently20 fixed21.
When the buckwheat is ripe and the fields and meadows are brown, there will be other birds to take their place. Tree-sparrows from Canada and white-throats from New England will make these same fields merry with music, and the tangle22 about the old fence will ring with gladness. But it is August still, and why anticipate? High overhead there are black specks23 in the air, and we can mark their course, as they pass, by the bell-like chink-chink that comes floating earthward. It is one of the sounds that recall the past rather than refer to the present. The reed-bird of to-day was a bobolink last May. His roundelay that told 199then of a long summer to come is now but a single note of regret that the promised summer is a thing of the past. It is the Alpha and Omega of the year’s song-tide. Not that we have no other songs when the reed-bird has flown to the Carolina rice-fields. While I write, a song-sparrow is reciting reminiscences of last May, and there will be ringing rounds of bird-rejoicing from November to April. Still, the initial thought holds good: bobolink in May, and only a reed-bird in August; the beginning and the end; the herald24 of Summer’s birth and her chief mourner; Alpha and Omega.
Where the brook25 that drains the meadow finds its way, the little rail-birds have congregated26. Many spent their summer along the Musketaquid, where Thoreau spent his best days, but they bring no message from New England. They very seldom speak above a whisper. Not so the king-rail. He chatters27 as he threads the marsh28 and dodges29 the great blue barrier that sweeps above the cat-tail grasses and has to be content with a sparrow or a mouse.
These late August days are too often overfull, and one sees and hears too much,—so 200very much that it is hard to give proper heed30 to any one of the many sights and sounds. But how much harder to turn your back upon it! All too soon the sun sinks into the golden clouds of the western sky.
That was a happy day when the buckwheat was threshed in the field, on a cool, clear, crisp October morning. The thumping31 of the Hails on the temporary floor put the world in good humor. No bird within hearing but sang to its time-keeping. Even the crows cawed more methodically, and squirrels barked at the same instant that the flail32 sent a shower of brown kernels33 dancing in the air. The quails34 came near, as if impatient for the grains eyes less sharp than theirs would fail to find. It was something at such a time to lie in the gathering35 heap of straw and join in the work so far as to look on. That is a boy’s privilege which we seldom are anxious to outgrow36. A nooning at such a time meant a fire to warm the dinner, and the scanty37 time allowed was none too short for the threshers to indulge in weather prognostications. This is as much a habit as eating, and to forego it would be as unnatural38 as to forego the taking of food. As the threshers ate, they scanned 201the surroundings, and not a tree, bush, or wilted39 weed but was held to bear evidence that the coming winter would be “open” or “hard,” as the oldest man present saw fit to predict. No one disputed him, and no one remembered a week later what he had said, so the old man’s reputation was safe.
The buckwheat threshed, the rest is all a matter of plain prose. Stay! In the coming Indian summer there was always a bee-hunt. The old man whom we saw in the buckwheat-field in October was our dependence40 for wild honey, which we fancied was better than that from the hives. He always went alone, carrying a wooden pail and a long, slender oaken staff. How he found the bee-trees so readily was a question much discussed. “He smells it,” some one suggested; “He hears ’em a-buzzin’,” others remarked. Knowing when he was going, I once followed on the sly and solved the mystery. He went without hesitation41 or turning of the head to a hollow beech42, and straightway commenced operations. I did not stay to witness this, but came away recalling many a Sunday afternoon’s stroll with him in these same woods. What he had seen in August he had remembered 202in December, and, wise man that he was, said nothing meanwhile. Why, indeed, should he throw aside the opportunity to pose as one having superior knowledge, when others were so persistent43 in asserting it of him? There is that much vanity in all men.
But a year later his superior knowledge failed him. I had found the same tree in my solitary44 rambles45, and was there ahead of him. Still, I never enjoyed my triumph. I felt very far from complimented when he remarked, as an excuse for his failure, that “a skunk46 had been at the only bee-tree in the woods. He saw signs of the varmint all about;” and when he said this he looked directly at me, with his nose in the air.
It is winter now, and when in the early morning I find cakes and honey upon the breakfast-table, excellent as they are in their way, they are the better that they call up the wide landscape of those latter August days and of frosty October, for I see less of the morning meal before me than of bees and buckwheat.
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1
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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2
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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3
commingling
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| v.混合，掺和，合并( commingle的现在分词 ) | |
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4
squatter
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| n.擅自占地者 | |
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5
trespassing
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| [法]非法入侵 | |
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6
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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7
mink
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| n.貂，貂皮 | |
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mazes
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| 迷宫( maze的名词复数 )； 纷繁复杂的规则； 复杂难懂的细节； 迷宫图 | |
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9
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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10
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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12
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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13
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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14
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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15
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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16
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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17
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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18
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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19
syne
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| adv.自彼时至此时，曾经 | |
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20
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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21
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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22
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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23
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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24
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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26
congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
chatters
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的第三人称单数 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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28
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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29
dodges
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| n.闪躲( dodge的名词复数 )；躲避；伎俩；妙计v.闪躲( dodge的第三人称单数 )；回避 | |
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30
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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31
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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32
flail
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| v.用连枷打；击打；n.连枷（脱粒用的工具） | |
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33
kernels
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| 谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点 | |
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34
quails
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| 鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 )； 鹌鹑肉 | |
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35
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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36
outgrow
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| vt.长大得使…不再适用；成长得不再要 | |
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37
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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38
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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39
wilted
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| （使）凋谢，枯萎( wilt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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41
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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42
beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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43
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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44
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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45
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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46
skunk
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| n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥 | |
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