NUMBER XI 

 SUMMER 



THE tide which begins to rise in spring reaches 

 high-water mark in midsummer, when it 

 often makes for itself a new shore. The buds are 

 replaced by leafy boughs ; the bud-like early flowers 

 are succeeded by others of more liberal beauty ; 

 young things begin to come to their full strength ; 

 and Love is justified in its children. For summer is 

 the time of greatest output and income of energy, 

 when the fires of life not only burn brightest, but 

 are built up for another season. It is the time of 

 intensest effort, of richest beauty and fullest joy. 



The Activity of Green Leaves 



Whether we think of the green leaves in which the 

 powers of light and life work together to build up 

 air and water and salts into starch and sugar and 

 proteins ; or of the bees who so industriously visit 

 the flowers and store up honey in the hive ; or of 

 the birds gathering food for their callow young ; or 

 of the haymakers busy in the heat of the day, we 

 get the same impression of vigorous work, at the 

 various planes of unconscious, instinctive, in- 

 telligent, and rational life. 



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