Page:Facts and Fancies about Our "Son of the Woods", Henry Clarence Kendall and his Poetry (IA factsfanciesabou00hami).pdf/49

Rh

At Camden Haven Kendall found consolation in thinking that the forest trees, at least, could live their own life as Nature alone dictated. A patch of beautiful green on the river bank was his delight. He loved the rivers, and he did "so like" to go into all the nooks and corners of the winding streams. He used to go out with his wife and children in a boat and there was a bright green spot on the banks that grew greener there than at any other part. He used to look out for that, on every one of their numerous little excursions. Mrs. Kendall and the children got so accustomed to it that they took no notice of it; but to him it seemed ever a fresh delight—"a thing of beauty and a joy for ever." It used to amuse Mrs. Kendall and the boys to see "Pa" so zealous not to miss another view of "that green patch," as the boys called it.

There were two immense trees about a hundred yards from the river, of which he always spoke as "Grandpa" and "Grandma" to the little ones. He also used to show the children the different mosses, and collect old, forsaken birds' nests, to give them; but was very solicitous not to disturb a nest that was occupied. The birds he was most interested in were the curlew, the bell-bird, the mopoke, the whip-bird, and the cat-bird. He would often, after his walks, come home laden with ferns; and whenever he found a tree-fern the children would have to go out with him to inspect it.

Among ferns, the maiden-hair was his special pet, and leaves on a waterpool, and water lilies or water blooms of any kind, were never objects of indifference to his keenly observant eyes in all that partook of the woodlands. Waterpools of even a very small and shallow nature, in Australian-bush scenery, often form very pretty sketches, especially with a flash of sunlight on one part and the shadow of foliage on the other. Kendall writes "Where the waterpools glisten" in one of his poems, and he often pictures, in his verses, what many