A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



Doctor had said began to take on a new light at 

 the top. &quot; If you want to see how beautiful the 

 world is, go up on the mountain. If you want 

 to know how brave and patient it is, go down in 

 the coal mine. There are sunrises even in disas 

 ter.&quot; I have tried that sentence on others since, 

 just to see if they had any auroral apprehension. 

 Some lights were beginning to burn for me along 

 lower ranges, and these steady little lamps seemed 

 to have been lit by the sun. 



When we looked back at our hayrick, it was 

 turned into a golden dome against the western 

 sky, and the naked fields beyond were trying to 

 wrap their furrows in pink scarfs. We came to a 

 bit of table-land intersected by the road, and by 

 this time the sun was above the trees, with one or 

 two islands of transparent coral floating over its 

 lower limb. As the rays fell across the higher 

 levels, they tipped every detail with rosy light, and 

 all at once we saw the old earth at her morning 

 sacrifice, sending up incense from a thousand altars. 



By the side of the road stood a magnificent 

 chestnut tree. It was one of the bronzes that 

 October keeps in reserve for her exhibition day. 

 It lifted its great splendour against the deep blue 

 like a knight in golden armour. We both stood a 

 moment at some little distance, caught open-eyed 

 by the magic of its transformation, without sus 

 pecting that we had ourselves been magically 

 transformed into artists. I wondered like a child 

 at the alchemy of light, that could turn blood and 

 rust and earthly ochres into such burnished efful- 



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