which one seeks in vain when skies are 

 softer and the green roof has been stretched 

 over the woodland ways. In fact, one can 

 hardly lay claim to any intimacy with 

 Nature until he loves her best when she 

 discards her royalty, and, like Cinderella, 

 clad only in the cast-off garments of sun- 

 nier days, she crouches before the ashes of 

 the faded year. The test of friendship is 

 its fidelity when every charm of fortune 

 and environment has been swept away, 

 and the bare, undraped character alone 

 remains ; if love still holds steadfast, and 

 the joy of companionship survives in such 

 an hour, the fellowship becomes a beautiful 

 prophecy of immortality. To all profes- 

 sions of love Nature applies this infallible 

 test with a kind of divine impartiality. 

 With the first note of the bluebird, under 

 the brief flush of an April sky, her alluring 

 invitation goes forth to the world ; day by 

 day she deepens the blue of her summer 

 skies and fills them with those buoyant 

 clouds that float like dreams across the 

 vision of the waking day ; night after 

 16 



