Charles E. Burchfield, Journals August 29, 1914

August 29, 1914

Morning wonderful. Wind veered to S.W. Clouds breaking. The air is cleared. It is fresh but has no coolness.  The whole earth is soft & muddy.  Every miniature valley in the alleys has its sand-bars. Trees soft & hazy.

Sun comes forth & is dazzling white. Towards noon a heavy shower comes. Biologists, I think have proven that each raindrop is hollow. I doubt not but that the quality of air in rain varies. These raindrops amounted to tiny bubbles as they were whitish and easily affected by the breeze. Whirled in crisscross fashion they appeared like snow-shower. It had a peculiar crackling sound when it struck the rippling pavement as air globules would. Thus the ethereal air is brought down & let free to purify our earthy atmosphere. The sun strucking (sic) them is shattered with the dust & thus is formed (?) that white haze.

Sun comes forth strong. Very sultry. All nature seems stirring.

P.M. with H.A. to Ellsworth pastures & Covered Bridge Terr. in search of mushrooms.

Start out in a snowy shower of bubbly popping drops of water.

Three red heads on railfence at waterworth pastures. Find buttercups in bloom. The Brook full & muddy.

Wind veers to N.W. becomes cool & strong. Clouds wintry clouds.­ –

Out Ellsworth. Leave road for pastures. H - says that shrubby plant with yellow flowers grows in abundance near N. Buffalo where he was visiting. They call it sagebrush.

In spite of the heavy rain & the miry roads, these pastures are dry. The sod must act as a sponge.

Notice white waving  streamers on tips of bulrushes. A species of grasshopper eats away the outer skin leaving the white fibrous pithy interior.

It was here we saw a pair of sparrow-hawks sporting in the air. What a wild poetical flight. When the mushroom bursts that filmy skin which connects its edge with the stem, thru which the pink can be seen, some of that fungus silver flies up into the air and silvers the hawk’s flight. Their flight seems a pastime. Now they mount to a certain height against the wind and with a snappy floppy turn, glides away with it in a wild ecstacy (sic) - the beholder is so thrilled he imagines he is the bird. Before alighting they seemed to perch momentarily on the air. Their bodies in repose are swift-like. They truly expressed this wild wonderful day.

Isabella moth larvae are matured. There is an old supersti­tion which has it that the black ends of this larva prophesied a cold beginning & close of winter with a mild interlude.

Gathering of mushrooms amounts to the highest poetic pleasure. The feel of those pulpy nubbins! The hunter goes from one to another in pure child-­like ardor. Their beautiful odd tone of old rose - one likes to feast his eyes them.

Am momentarily exulting over the wonder of the day. In ecstacy of mind after long exile. My every turn reveals great pictures. Blue distances.

As I rambled along, I composed music to myself and I found the more I used “soe” the more it seemed to fit the day. Compositions wherein the note “soe” is emphasized always reminds me of fall.

 While we were busy in  a lane, a woman, with a harsh strident voice, ordered us off of the farm. This is the worst kind of narrowness. One would think that the farmer, by his long association with the outdoors & the soil would attain a breadth of mind to be equaled by no other man’s. But such is not the case. He does not see the poetry of nature; a rain is either good or bad for his crops as is the sunshine & he observes them accordingly, as is natural of course.

 We saw mushrooms here two & three days old, so that if they had cared for them themselves, they would have gathered them before this.

To Dutchman’s. Discuss Wagner & Browning & possibility of art in this direction. H - bases his opinion of philosophy on Nietsche who is a pessimist. H - lamented the use of “Omar” as a name for cigarettes, and I thoroughly agreed with him. And also the use of passages from the Rubaiyat in their advertisements. All reference to great works of art in connection with advertisement is revolting to the poet.

Apple orchard. Wildish taste. Pastures on two mile road. Puff- balls. Here see  see many logs in last stage of decay - merely oblong mounds of earth. Dim outlines of trees as tho (sic) the shadows remained after trees were removed. Lichen crusted. Tall stump here curiously carved by engraver beetles. Like a totem pole of Nature.

This season is licheny & mushroomy. Our thoughts are like mushrooms - they are spontaneous & quick & spring from all things. Like mushrooms they are short lived & unless we pick them when they are fresh, they become wormeaten by the commonness of everyday life.

A wonderful time - the wind is different. Cold clouds.

Dutchman’s hills seen thru (sic) grove a bright blue. Distances to southeast grand. Hedge of bittersweet. Berries lemon yellow. Carrion- flower-berries dark greenish indigo.

Pastury hill west of Covered Bridge thick with mushrooms. Our delight. Southward to North woods.  On account of engagement at K’s we are forced to hurry home. I hate to hurry from the woods. Sun breaks forth. Glorious. Distant woods in sunlight while we are in shadow.

Night clear & starry.

Tho (sic) evening spent riotously at King’s all of that falls away from my mind & only the impression of the afternoon remains.

I find that I am extremely absentminded on all things except those which I love - art nature & music. I may walk along a street & see no one; but let a sparrow dart down from a building in pursuit of a moth, tho (sic) it be a little to one side & behind me, I see it. Whole conversations may go on without my ear catching a word. - the chewink cannot step on a leaf but what I  hear it.

Charles E. Burchfield