194 UNDER THE TREES. 



without thought or memory of the beauty which 

 has encompassed them. All this the Imagination 

 has interpreted for us. It has fashioned life for us, 

 and the dullest mind that plods and counts and 

 dies is ministered to and enriched by it. It does 

 magical things. It puts on its robe and opens its 

 book, and straightway the heavens rain melody and 

 drop riches upon us. But this is its play. In these 

 displays of its art it hints at the resources at its 

 command, at the marvels it will yet bring to pass. 

 Meanwhile it has made the earth hospitable for us 

 and taught men how to live above the brutes.&quot; 



The Poet stopped abruptly, as if he had been 

 caught in the act of preaching, and Rosalind gave 

 the sermon a delightful ending. 



&quot; I wonder,&quot; she said, &quot; if love would be possible 

 without the Imagination ? For the heart of love is 

 the perception of a deep and genuine fellowship of 

 the soul, and the end of love is the happiness which 

 comes through ministry. Could we understand a 

 human soul or serve it if the Imagination did not 

 aid us with its wonderful light ? Is it not the Im 

 agination which enables me to put myself in an 

 other s place, and so to sympathize with anoth 

 er s sorrow and share another s joy ? Could a man 

 feel the sufferings of a class or a race or the world 

 if the Imagination did not open these things to 

 him ? And if he did not understand, could he 

 serve?&quot; 



No one answered these questions, for they made 



