"Nature" is what we see — The United States

"Nature" is what we see－¹
The Hill－the Afternoon－
Squirrel－Eclipse－the Bumble bee－
Nay－Nature is Heaven－
Nature is what we hear－⁵
The Bobolink－the Sea－
Thunder－the Cricket－
Nay－Nature is Harmony－
Nature is what we know－⁹
Yet have no art to say－
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.

(F.721/J.668)

[1] Nature:: the existing system.
[2] Afternoon:: languor, laziness; in sense "procrastinating, slow, lazy," as afternoon farmer (OED 3b). The Hill:: the United States Congress.
[3] Squirrel:: one who acts like a squirrel, squirrel-minded, shallow-brained. Eclipse:: no light even in the daytime. Bumble:: a confusion, jumble. bee:: a busy worker.
[4] Nay Nature:: the congress is not nature.
[6] Bobolink, Sea:: a tiny voice in the vastness.
[7] Thunder:: loud noise, threatening, condemnation. Cricket:: fairness, as an honor game of cricket.
[8] Nay Nature:: the country is not nature.
[9–12] Nature, Her Sincerity:: the United States.

An American is very indignant with us because, in a recent review of Mrs. Stowe's new work, we confessed ourselves ignorant of the meaning of the expression "bobolink." Amongst our accomplishments we lack the pure American language, and our correspondent is simply cruel to be angry with us. He also pities our ignorance by informing us that "bobolink" means "idler." The intimation is coupled with a recommendation not to rashly confuse "bobolink" with "loafer," of the meaning of which, it would seem, no Englishman is thoroughly informed. Bobolink is to loafer as the expression "speaking in unparliamentary language" is to "liar." You may call a man a "bobolink" and he will pardon you; call him a "loafer" and you had better make your will. ─ The Literary Gazette (October 29, 1859) [The Minister's Wooing by Harriet Beecher Stowe was on the List of New Books in Literary Gazette on October 15, 1859.]

The next day broke calm and fair. The robins sang remorselessly in the apple-tree, and were answered by bobolink, oriole, and a whole tribe of ignorant little bits of feathered happiness that danced among the leaves. Golden and glorious unclosed those purple eyelids of the East, and regally came up the sun; and the treacherous sea broke into ten thousand smiles, laughing and dancing with every ripple, as unconsciously as if no form dear to human hearts had gone down beneath it. Oh! treacherous, deceiving beauty of outward things! beauty, wherein throbs not one answering nerve to human pain! [page 320] . . . We could not afford to have it always night,－and we must think that the broad, gay morning-light, when meadow-lark and robin and bobolink are singing in chorus with a thousand insects and the waving of a thousand breezes, is on the whole the most in accordance with the average wants of those who have a material life to live and material work to do. [page 376] ─ The Minister's Wooing (1859)

"Bob o' Lincoln,"
BIRDS SPEAKING ENGLISH.－A traveler in South America, speaking of the birds of his native land, says it is pleasant to notice that, into whatever strange countries they may have wandered during winter, and whatever strange tongues they may have heard, they nevertheless come back speaking English. Hark! "Phoebe! Phoebe!" plain enough. And by-and-by the bobolink, saying, "Bob o' Lincoln," and the quail, saying, "Bob White." We have heard of one who always thought the robin said, "Skillet! skillet! three legs to a skillet! two legs to a skillet!" A certain facetious doctor says the robins cry out to him as he passes along the road, "Kill 'em! cure 'em! physic! physic! physic!" ─ The National Magazine, Volume 5 (1864)