116 FLYCATCHER VAGARIES 



The old grove was to me a daily joy. 

 When I parted the thick branches at the 

 entrance and passed in, it impressed me like 

 a grand cathedral. The floor was carpeted 

 with the rich brown of fallen needles, and 

 the whole shut in by the trees on the borders 

 retaining their branches down to the ground, 

 in addition to the thick screen of greenery 

 with which Mother Nature loves to hedge in 

 her groves. Within that magic inclosure all 

 the lower branches had dropped off, and only 

 those at the top where they reached the sun- 

 light lived, and formed a roof. It was a great 

 temple with innumerable pillars. 



" A temple enchanted and hallowed of old, 

 And ita priests are the fir-trees so solemnly stoled, 

 Ever shedding their sweet benedictions of peace 

 On the sonl that here seeketh in Nature release." 



The grove was most lovely in the morning, 

 when the sun shone in from the side and 

 mottled the moss-clad trunks with sunshine, 

 giving it a strange, foreign look, quite unlike 

 that of a few hours later, when the sun was 

 higher and all was in shadow. 



For true enjoyment of the woods as 

 already said silence and solitude are in- 



