never suspected. By this means, her poetical gift
has functioned happily, without ever for a moment
experiencing the tension of doubt.

A few passages will serve to show how well
Hilda knows how to use her eyes:

"The water came in with a wavy look
Like a spider's web."

A bluebird has a back "like a feathered sky."
Apostrophizing a snow-capped mountain she
writes:

"You shine like a lily
But with a different whiteness."

She asks a humming-bird:

"Why do you stand on the air
And no sun shining?"

She hears a chickadee:

"Far off I hear him talking
The way smooth bright pebbles
Drop into water."

Now let us follow her a step farther, to where
the imagination takes a firmer hold: