that first communicated to the shaken mind Running 

 of childhood the sense of mystery, the summons Waters, 

 and the elation of that which reveals in 

 beauty and utters the vibration of wonder. 

 The first coming of snow, the noise of wind in 

 trees, the gathering murmur of the tide heard 

 in the night's darkness and silence, music or 

 songs borne across water, the first falling 

 meteors with their terrifying suggestion that 

 all these familiar stellar fires may likewise at 

 any time be blown abroad by some obscure 

 and awful wind, the furtive whisperings and 

 inexplicable confused speech of running waters, 

 of such are these primitive and unforgettable 

 experiences. 



The burn, the brook, the rivulet, what 

 memories of them are possessed by those whose 

 childhood has not been wholly spent in towns, 

 or at those thronged seaside resorts where the 

 bounteous green life of Nature is even more 

 absent than in many cities, at least in those 

 which have their wooded parks, in which there 

 may be flowing or still waters, where the cushat 

 may be heard among the cedars or beeches, 

 and where, above the tall elms, the noisy 

 coming and going of rooks seems to the exile 

 the very voice of the country-side. The linn 

 of brown foaming water, the amber surge of 

 the hill-stream, the stealthy if swift rush of the 



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