selves to her. She effaces us and takes 

 complete possession of our souls. Not so, 

 however, does she usurp the throne of our 

 own personal life in those early hours when 

 the sun, the master artist, whose touch has 

 coloured every leaf and tinted every flower, 

 demands her adoration. Then it is, per- 

 haps, that she turns her thoughts from all 

 lesser companionships and, wrapped in uni- 

 versal worship, suffers us to pass and repass 

 as unnoticed as the idlers in the cathedral 

 by those who kneel at the chancel rail. 



I confess I never find myself quite un- 

 moved in this sacred hour, announced only 

 by the stars veiling their faces and the birds 

 breaking the silence with their tumultuous 

 song. The universal faith becomes mine 

 also, and from the common worship I am 

 not debarred. My thought rises whither the 

 mists, parted from the unseen censers, are 

 rising : I feel within me the revival of 

 aspirations and faiths that were fast over- 

 clouding; the stir of old hopes is in my 

 heart; the thrill of old purposes is in my 

 soul. Once more Nature is serving me in 

 135 





. 



