ALL NATURE WELCOMES ME. 113 



XXVI. 



June 26, '04- Once more, boulders gray, 

 I greet you! The days have been many, the 

 months not a few, since last I held communion 

 with the God of Nature at your side. This 

 morn, bright, breezy, beautiful, I come again. 

 From you I always receive a hearty, friendly 

 greeting a welcome which I see gleaming from 

 your eyes of crystal, when, by the swaying of 

 the oaken branches above, the sun's rays fall 

 upon and are refracted from your surface. 



You and I have both changed since last we 

 met, but I more than you. More gray has 

 grown into my head into my soul. You have 

 become a little greener, due to the greater spread 

 of rnoss in spots, perhaps, a little grayer, due 

 to the deeper eroding of wind and frost but 

 you will be here thousands of years after I 

 cease to come, for you are made of far more 

 durable material than I. 



Even the large black ants, which make their 

 home beneath your friendly base, have a wel- 

 come for me and as soon as I am seated one or 

 two crawl rapidly up my sleeve and over my 



(8) 



