PURE AND REFLECTED LIGHT 



13 



mass of silver, the poplar seems to shake light 

 from its leaves as though they were trembling 

 little mirrors. By contrast the shadows across 

 the lawn and along the mountain-side seem 

 darker, though in reality they are lighter ; and 

 the light itself may seem fainter because widely 

 diffused, whereas it is stronger and fiercer. By 

 ten o'clock the sun is quite high in the heav- 

 ens. Heat is radiating from the earth. Strata 

 of warm air are forming along the ground, 

 moving uneasily hither and thither in their 

 search for an exit through the colder air to the 

 upper regions. Dust and moisture, too, are 

 rising; and by noon perhaps there is a haze 

 lying along the hills and meadows, the distant 

 valleys look gray and warm in the sunlight, the 

 mountains beyond them are faintly blue, the 

 sky itself looks yellow or rosy. Color is every- 

 where, more predominant than in the morning, 

 but less contrasted, because the atmosphere has 

 blended and toned all nature to its own golden 

 hue. 



How different this hot light of noon from 

 the dawn-light ! The latter is preferred be- 

 cause it is soft and agreeable to the eyes, but it 

 would be difficult to imagine anything more 

 beautiful or more splendid than bright sun- 



The light at 

 noon. 



