132 HOURS WITH NATURE. 



darkening shadow upon my mind, so that I felt an- 

 noyed that Janardan had betrayed my secrets to 

 Svamiji. But it was for one brief moment. One look 

 from those kindly eyes inspired me with confidence, 

 and assured me that I had nothing to fear, nothing 

 to be ashamed of. "Question the trees," said he in 

 an encouraging tone, "and they will tell you all about 

 themselves." Here was an enigma : how was I to 

 question trees ? Was he joking ? But before I could 

 stammer out a word or two, he gave me a few grains 

 each of paddy, barley, gram, mung, and some tamarind 

 seeds, with instructions to sow them and water them, 

 till the seedlings were about four inches long, adding that 

 they would then speak to me. I sowed the seeds with 

 care, and watered them with assiduity ; they germinated 

 and were about four inches long, yet they spoke not. 

 Disappointed, I went to Svamiji. He did not, however, 

 appear to pay much heed to what I said, but told me 

 to prepare rough drawings of the seedlings with ac- 

 curate descriptions of their parts. I may mention in 

 passing that elementary drawing was jhen recently made 

 compulsory in the Vernacular and university Entrance 

 examination. I sketched and described more than once, 

 and although Svamiji praised me for my willingness and 

 perseverance, my performance evidently did not meet with 

 his approval. Every time I showed it to him, he pointed 

 out some error of observation here, suggested a little 

 alteration there and talked to me in such an encouraging 

 manner as to enkindle in me fresh enthusiam to try it 



