Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, March 25, 1920

P.M. to Bottoms sketching – It is the day for burning the swamps – a hot white wind out of the south; the blue smoke – wonderful music; the roar of wind in the tree tops, with call of crows, bluebirds, killdeers & blackbirds, then all at once as the fires reaches a thick pile of brush – the mighty crackling roar of flame drowns out all else.

How the flames leap up wildly into the hot white air – how pale & ghostlike they appear in the dazzling sunlight.

At late afternoon, the fire has rushed on, leaving burning stumps on the hillside like torches - the rain-gloom has covered the sky with vivid flattened lights – a redbird sings.

[in margin] Note: (The “Bottoms” were low flat marshes just below “Post’s Woods”)

Dusk comes gradually and when it is dark, a hazy moon shines ludicrously above the burning stumps and logs which glow like furnaces.

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, March 25, 1920