GRASS AND GREEN THINGS. 11 



The little brooks always make their pathway where the grasses grow, 

 for the little brooks and the grasses love each other, and they creep 

 along together plotting how to bless the world. The harebell and the 

 purple loose-strife, the woodbine and the meadow-sweet, may each 

 peep up here and there, and get refreshing splashes as the waters leap 

 over the stony ledges in their way, but the grass is the streamlet's 

 favourite, and wherever the one is, there is the other to be found. 

 Oh, what a sweet life hath this grass of ours ! his is the true Arcadian 

 transport ; the music of the rivulet, the soft bleating of the sheep, 

 the drowsy hum of wild bees, the rich perfume of thymy knolls, and 

 the shadowy beauties of " faerie land." These are his food and 

 pastime, and the bonny brook that wets his feet is his chosen com- 

 panion. The poets (whom we shall never refrain from quoting) have 

 lovely allusions to the companionship of the rivulet and the grass : — 



The deep recesses of the grove he gained, 

 Where, in a plain defended by the wood, 

 Crept through the matted grass a crystal flood, 

 By which an alabaster fountain stood.* 



Drayton has a metaphor of unique richness — 



The full and youthful breasts which, in their meadowy pride, 

 Are branched with rivery veines, meander-like that glide. t 



Then, again, the grass is the play-ground of the dear children, 

 when they make the sky ring with their merry shouts, and bound like 

 fawns upon the mellow turf. Who would not bless the ground 

 whereon the foot of childhood loves to tread, where it loves to gambol 

 and exult in the exuberance of its happy heart? Heaven's smile 

 lie on them ! the little angel flutterers, tripping in twos and threes 

 with their rosy faces and laughing eyes, plucking the daisies that 

 glimmer on the sward, setting no worldly value on their gifts and 

 gatherings, but, like the grass, fresh, fervent, and joyful, and knowing 

 no other tears but those which vanish with the first ray of sunshine. 

 God's blessing be with the children ! aijd if we would have them 

 supplant the present with a nobler race of men, we must let their 

 hearts expand amongst the flowers, and their limbs gain strength 

 upon the turf. 



* Dryden — Cymon and Iphigenia, 

 t Poly-Olbien, s. 10. 



