Other editions of book The Lay of the Land

A series of nature sketches, whose topics range from muskrats building for winter to buzzards nesting in the swamp, written in a way that encourages in the reader the habit of close observation. That the substance for most of the essays comes from personal observation of a small tract of land over a number of years illustrates how much can be discovered through regular observation in all seasons. In the final chapter he urges readers to adopt a similar practice.

Dallas Lore Sharp (1870–1929) was an American author, university professor, and librarian, best remembered for his magazine articles and books about native birds and small mammals."We have had a series of long, heavy rains," he begins The Lay of the Land, "and water is standing over the swampy meadow. It is a dreary stretch, this wet, sedgy land in the cold twilight, drearier than any part of the woods or the upland pastures. They are empty, but the meadow is flat and wet, naked and all unsheltered. And a November night is falling.The darkness deepens. A raw wind is rising. At nine o’clock the moon swings round and full to the crest of the ridge, and pours softly over. I button the heavy ulster close, and in my rubber boots go down to the river and follow it out to the middle of the meadow, where it meets the main ditch at the sharp turn toward the swamp. Here at the bend, behind a clump of black alders, I sit quietly down and wait.I am not mad, nor melancholy; I am not after copy. Nothing is the matter with me. I have come out to the bend to watch the muskrats building, for that small mound up the ditch is not an old haycock, but a half-finished muskrat house."This classic contains the following chapters:I. The Muskrats Are BuildingII. Christmas in the WoodIII. A Cure for WinterIV. The Nature StudentV. ChickadeeVI. The Missing ToothVII. The Sign of the Shad-BushVIII. The Nature MovementIX. JuneX. A Broken FatherXI. High NoonXII. The Palace in the Pig-PenXIII. An Account with NatureXIV. The Buzzard of the Bear SwampXV. The Lay of the Land

Dallas Lore Sharp (1870–1929) was an American author, university professor, and librarian, best remembered for his magazine articles and books about native birds and small mammals."We have had a series of long, heavy rains," he begins The Lay of the Land, "and water is standing over the swampy meadow. It is a dreary stretch, this wet, sedgy land in the cold twilight, drearier than any part of the woods or the upland pastures. They are empty, but the meadow is flat and wet, naked and all unsheltered. And a November night is falling.The darkness deepens. A raw wind is rising. At nine o’clock the moon swings round and full to the crest of the ridge, and pours softly over. I button the heavy ulster close, and in my rubber boots go down to the river and follow it out to the middle of the meadow, where it meets the main ditch at the sharp turn toward the swamp. Here at the bend, behind a clump of black alders, I sit quietly down and wait.I am not mad, nor melancholy; I am not after copy. Nothing is the matter with me. I have come out to the bend to watch the muskrats building, for that small mound up the ditch is not an old haycock, but a half-finished muskrat house."This classic contains the following chapters:I. The Muskrats Are BuildingII. Christmas in the WoodIII. A Cure for WinterIV. The Nature StudentV. ChickadeeVI. The Missing ToothVII. The Sign of the Shad-BushVIII. The Nature MovementIX. JuneX. A Broken FatherXI. High NoonXII. The Palace in the Pig-PenXIII. An Account with NatureXIV. The Buzzard of the Bear SwampXV. The Lay of the Land

Dallas Lore Sharp (1870–1929) was an American author, university professor, and librarian, best remembered for his magazine articles and books about native birds and small mammals."We have had a series of long, heavy rains," he begins The Lay of the Land, "and water is standing over the swampy meadow. It is a dreary stretch, this wet, sedgy land in the cold twilight, drearier than any part of the woods or the upland pastures. They are empty, but the meadow is flat and wet, naked and all unsheltered. And a November night is falling.The darkness deepens. A raw wind is rising. At nine o’clock the moon swings round and full to the crest of the ridge, and pours softly over. I button the heavy ulster close, and in my rubber boots go down to the river and follow it out to the middle of the meadow, where it meets the main ditch at the sharp turn toward the swamp. Here at the bend, behind a clump of black alders, I sit quietly down and wait.I am not mad, nor melancholy; I am not after copy. Nothing is the matter with me. I have come out to the bend to watch the muskrats building, for that small mound up the ditch is not an old haycock, but a half-finished muskrat house."This classic contains the following chapters:I. The Muskrats Are BuildingII. Christmas in the WoodIII. A Cure for WinterIV. The Nature StudentV. ChickadeeVI. The Missing ToothVII. The Sign of the Shad-BushVIII. The Nature MovementIX. JuneX. A Broken FatherXI. High NoonXII. The Palace in the Pig-PenXIII. An Account with NatureXIV. The Buzzard of the Bear SwampXV. The Lay of the Land

Excerpt from The Lay of the LandWe have had a series of long, heavy rains, and water is standing over the swampy meadow. It is a dreary stretch, this wet, sedgy land in the cold twilight, drearier than any part of the woods or the upland pastures. They are empty, but the meadow is flat and wet, naked and all unsheltered. And a November night is falling.The darkness deepens. A raw wind is rising. At nine o'clock the moon swings round and full to the crest of the ridge, and pours softly over. I button the heavy ulster close, and in my rubber boots go down to the river and follow it out to the middle of the meadow, where it meets the main ditch at the sharp turn toward the swamp. Here at the bend, behind a clump of black alders, I sit quietly down and wait.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... XV €$t &ay of fyt She loved nature--from a veranda, a dog-cart, the deck of a vessel. She had been to the seashore for a whole June, the next June to the mountains, then a June to an inland farm. "And I enjoyed it!" she exclaimed; "the sky-blue, I mean, the sea-blue, and the green of the hills. But as for seeing fiddler crabs and chewinks and woodchucks -- things! why, I simply did n't. In fact, I believe that most of your fiddling crabs and moralizing stumps and philosophizing woodchucks are simply the creatures of a disordered imagination." I quite agreed as to the fiddling (some of it) and Zfy of tfy &mb the philosophizing; I disagreed, however, as to the reality of the crabs and the woodchucks; for it was not the attributes and powers of these creatures that she really disbelieved in, but the very existence of the creatures themselves, -- along her seashore, and upon the farm that she visited. "As for fiddler crabs and chewinks and woodchucks -- things" she did not see them. Certainly not. Yet a fiddler crab is as real an entity as a thousand-acre marsh, -- and in its way as interesting. It is a sorry soul that looks for nothing out of doors but fiddler crabs, and insists upon their fiddling; that never sees the sky-blue, the sea-blue, and the green of the rolling hills. I shall never forget a moonrise over the Maurice River marshes that I witnessed one night in early June. It was a peculiarly solemn sight, and one of the profoundly beautiful experiences of my life, there in the wide, weird silence of the half sea-land, with the tide at flood. Nor shall I ever forget two or three of the stops which I made in the marshes that day to watch the fiddler crabs. Nor shall I forget how they fiddled. For fiddle they did, just as they...

The Lay of the Land features fifteen nature sketches written from Sharp’s personal observations of the land and its inhabitants over a number of years. Subjects include muskrats preparing a home, Christmas in the woods, buzzards nesting and much more. The title chapter urges the reader to spend time observing nature for themselves.“Nature study is the out-of-door side of natural history, the unmeasured, unprinted side of poetry. It is joy in breathing the air of the fields; joy in seeing, hearing, living the life of the fields; joy in knowing and loving all that lives with you in your out-of-doors.” - Dallas Lore SharpThis edition is complete and unabridged and features all of the illustrations from the 1922 printing to provide the best possible reading experience.

The Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This publication was produced from a professional scan of an original edition of the book, which can include imperfections from the original book or through the scanning process, and has been created from an edition which we consider to be of the best possible quality available. This popular classic work by Dallas Lore Sharp is in the English language. The Lay of the Land is highly recommended for those who enjoy the works of Dallas Lore Sharp, and for those discovering the works of Dallas Lore Sharp for the first time.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Lang:- eng, Pages 244. Reprinted in 2015 with the help of original edition published long back[1908]. This book is in black & white, Hardcover, sewing binding for longer life with Matt laminated multi-Colour Dust Cover, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, there may be some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. Title: The lay of the land 1908 [Hardcover], Author: Sharp, Dallas Lore,