146 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



&quot;I wonder if I am!&quot; I answered joyously, 

 and plunged on into the next thicket. 



There is as much exhilaration in being out 

 in a big rain and getting really rained through, 

 as there is in being out in surf. It has nothing 

 in common with the sensations that arise 

 when, umbrellaed and mackintoshed and 

 rubber-overshoed, we pick our way gingerly 

 along the street, wondering how much we 

 can keep dry, hoping everything is &quot;up&quot; all 

 round, wishing the wind would n t keep chang 

 ing and blowing the umbrella so, and fancying 

 how we shall look when we &quot;get there.&quot; But 

 when you don t care when you want to get 

 wet, and do there is a physical glow that 

 is delightful, a sense of being washed through 

 and through, of losing one s identity almost, 

 and being washed away into the great swirl 

 of nature where one does n t count much, but 

 is glad to be taken in as a part. I fancy this is 

 true with any of the elements earth, air, 

 water. The tale of Antaeus was no mere leg 

 end; there is real strength for us in close con 

 tact with the earth. There is a purifying and 

 uplifting potency in the winds, a potency in 

 the waters ocean and river and great rain. 



