IN SILENT WOODS 



109 



companionship, else the silence is too oppressive, 

 the stiffening tension of bodily inactivity on the 

 vibrant nerves is too great. A woman may go 

 happily on the flower quest in byway, lane, through 

 open fields or along the waterways, if she numbers 

 a woman friend, a dog, or a patient horse among 

 her intimates ; but for the silent woods, man is 

 woman's needful com- 

 plement. May there 

 not be paths to cut 

 and gullies to cross, 

 and even snakes to be 

 killed? And it was not 

 the feminine half of 

 mankind who was told 

 to bruise the serpent's 

 head with her heel ! 



Lovers? Yes; court- 

 ing days are in touch 

 with the silence of 

 wood rambles, but for 

 the flower side of the 

 quest, married lovers are best. Their vision has a 

 far wider range. They have the tranquillity that 

 heightens memory, and they go and come from a 

 mutual home, follow the pathways of nature in 



