ACKNOWLEDGMENT

To all the joy that colors give beneath the sun and moon; to all pleasurable sounds and wholesome odors of the earth and air and sea; to the warmth and glow of genial firesides and to the bite of winter winds; to the rain upon the lichens; to the majesty of mountains and the awfulness of high places; to the darkness of caves and the friendliness of far-off trails; to every furry thing—the shy, the dumb, and whatsoever creature has found expression in his fancy; to both the nobler and the meaner natures of men; to life’s laughter and life’s tears and to all fruitful experience; to these sources, for whatsoever good may here be found, the author makes acknowledgment.

A number of the rhymes in the present volume have previously appeared in the Associated Press, Judge, Leslie’s, the Oregon Sunday Journal, and The Open Road. For permission to reprint the drawings the author is indebted to the publishers of Scribner’s Magazine.

CONTENTS

PART ONE
THE OPEN SPACES
PAGE
By Scarlet Torch and Blade[ 3]
Builders of Highways[10]
Oregon Snow[18]
The Pruner[23]
Snoots[27]
Little Black Bull[30]
Mountain Tops[32]
The River[33]
The Juggler[34]
Nature’s Totems[36]
Minstrels of the Night[38]
The Long Bet[39]
The Caves of Josephine[43]
Hobnobbing with the Firmament  [50]
PART TWO
PEOPLE AND THINGS
Hearth-glow[61]
The Want-ad of My Soul[63]
The Bell[65]
Gossip[68]
Love’s Labor Lost[73]
The Half Undone[75]
The Man Who Poisons Dogs[77]
A and The[79]
Melted Candles[80]
Holly[83]
PART THREE
MORE RHYME THAN REASON
Monday[87]
Gettin’ to It[90]
Flies[93]
A Dino’s Aura[100]
Just Cat[109]
Danger[112]
PART FOUR
A PAGEANT OF THE TREES
The Forest[115]
The Sequoia Gigantia[118]
A Spruce’s Root[120]
The Douglas Fir[123]
The Tamarack[125]
The Monterey Cypress[127]
The Madrona[129]
The Yellow Pine[130]
The Brush[132]
The Timber-line[135]
The Ghost-Trees[138]
PART FIVE
RHYMES OF FRANCE
Frogs[143]
Transition[145]
Kiddy of France[149]
Spring—1919[150]
Homesick[152]