FIG. 59. The Beech. 



CHAPTER V. 



LEAVES. 



MR. RUSKIN, in one of his most exquisite passages, 

 has told us that " Flowers seem intended for the 

 solace of ordinary humanity : children love them ; 

 tender, contented, ordinary people love them. They 

 are the cottager's treasure ; and in the crowded town 

 mark, as with a little broken fragment of rainbow, 

 the windows of the workers in whose heart rests the 

 covenant of peace." I should be ungrateful indeed 



H 



