THE THRESHOLD OF THE GODS. 77 



the best meaning of the word. Certain condi- 

 tions of mundane things might have been 

 necessary to their existence here. If we 

 should study nature closely for the purpose we 

 might discover those conditions. 



And this fetches from its hiding-place my 

 theory. It may be called the grove theory. 

 No one can think of the gods as separable 

 from the woods and waters. The ancients ad- 

 mitted this. They went further, dedicating to 

 each deity its grove or stream. It seems to 

 me that this meant more than mere empty 

 complimentary dedication. It was a recogni- 

 tion and acknowledgment of the conditions 

 upon which the gods would remain with them. 

 In short, unsmitten, unshorn, pristine nature 

 could accommodate these mysterious beings, 

 and it only. The groves grown of virgin soil, 

 the uncultivated flowers and fruits, the* balm 

 and spice of perfect trees these prepared the 

 air for the gods to breathe. Something, we 

 may not know what the keen pure essence 

 of unchanged nature from some source now 

 practically dried up, may be fed them and 

 kept them within the bounds of visibility. The 

 dryads disappeared perforce, it may well be 

 assumed, when their woods were desecrated, 

 and the naiads when their fountains were pol- 

 luted. The fauns faded into shadows and 

 were blown away when the axe and saw had 

 felled the groves and fragrant thickets. The 

 satyr withdrew into the deepest recesses of the 

 forests as man advanced, and Apollo and 

 Diana fled away whither ? 



Possibly some secret potency existed in the 

 air that flowed through those virgin woods 

 and over those unpolluted streams which could 



