Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

went along the stubbled hayfields and Bullards land I heard some grasshoppers singing. I noticed two distinct kinds - one that gave a continuous song, a steady monotonous ztitzen sound; the other a more varied song – “Tzt Tzt Tzt Tzt – Zeeeeeeeeee” at intervals. There was a whole fiendish chorus of them in an uncut hayfield near the orchard.

     As I strode along I marked how wierd trees looked - black in the dim twilight. Often as I listened to the grasshoppers I imagined that the cricket chorus had ceased and then as I listened separately for it,back it came again to my ears, as tho it were just commencing. Going down Union Street I percieved three bats circling up and down over the road. Their silent,floppy and sup­remely uncanny flight agrees well with night. No wonder supersti­tion has always associated them with witchery.

     Darkness was rapidly coming down and when I arrived at the frog-pond it was quite