ments ago, a voice called me from under 

 the apple trees, and a little figure, with a 

 flush of joy on her face and the fadeless 

 light of love in her eyes, came running with 

 uneven pace to meet me. How slight and 

 frail was that vision of childhood to the 

 thought which saw the awful forces of 

 Nature at work, or rather at play, about 

 her! And yet how serene was her look 

 upon the great world dropping its fruit at 

 her feet ; how familiar and at ease her 

 attitude in the presence of these sublime 

 mysteries! She is at one with the hour 

 and the scene ; she has not begun to think 

 of herself as apart from the things which 

 surround her; that strange and sudden 

 sense of unreality which makes me at 

 times an alien and a stranger in the presence 

 of Nature, " moving about in world not 

 realised," is still far off. For her the sun 

 shines and the winds blow, the flowers 

 bloom and the stars glisten, the trees hold 

 out their protecting arms and the grass 

 waves its soft garment, and she accepts 

 them without a thought of what is behind 

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