7; 



forces and primeval ages to these later cen- 

 turies in which human life has overlaid 

 these hills and vales with rich memories. 

 Wherever man goes Nature makes room 

 for him, as if prepared for his coming, and 

 ready to put her mighty shoulder to the 

 wheel of his prosperity. The old fences, 

 often decayed and fallen, are not spurned ; 

 the movement of universal life does not 

 flow past them and leave them to rot in 

 their ugliness; year by year time stains 

 them into harmony with the rocks, and 

 every summer a wave out of the great sea 

 of life flings itself over them, and leaves 

 behind some slight and seemly garniture 

 of moss and vine. The old farm-houses 

 have grown into the landscape, and the 

 hurrying road widens its course, and some- 

 times makes a long detour, that it may 

 unite these outlying folk with the great 

 world. There stands the old school-house, 

 sacred to every traveller who has learned 

 that childhood is both a memory and a 

 prophecy of heaven. One pauses here, 

 and hears, in the unbroken stillness, the 

 32 





2^ . ^ r = ' 



- A/^. 



