74 UNDER THE TREES. 



enough that in this quiet place the bounty of 

 Nature never ceases to overflow, and that here she 

 holds out the cup of refreshment with royal indif 

 ference to gratitude or neglect. Here she ministers 

 to every comer as if her whole life were a service. 

 One forgets that behind this cup of cold water, held 

 out to the humblest, there sweep sublime powers, 

 and that the same hand which serves him here 

 moves in their courses the planets, whose faint re 

 flections shine in this silent pool by night. 



Springs have been natural centers of life from the 

 earliest times. Deep in the solitude of forests, or 

 fringed with foliage in the heart of deserts, they 

 have alike served the needs and appealed to the 

 sentiment of men. Around the wells cluster the 

 most venerable associations of the ancient patri 

 archal families ; the beautiful pastoral life of the 

 Old Testament, full of deep, unwritten poetry, dis 

 covers no scenes more characteristic and touching 

 than those which were enacted beside these sources 

 of fertility. Green and fruitful in the memory of 

 the most sacred history repose these cool, refresh 

 ing pools under the burning glance of the tropical 

 sun. Here, too, as in those distant lands, life is 

 kept in constant freshness around the borders of 

 the spring. The grass grows green and dense here 

 the whole summer through, and here there is always 

 a breath of cooler air when the fields glow with in 

 tense heat. In such places Nature waits to touch 



