THOUGHTS FROM WRITINGS 



for that purpose. They must not be 

 defaced, not a stem bent; it is more 

 reverent not to kneel on them, for this 

 carpet prays itself. I will sit by it and 

 let it pray for me. It is so common, the 

 bird's-foot lotus, it grows everywhere; 

 yet if I purposely searched for days I 

 should not have found a plot like this, 

 so rich, so golden, so glowing with sun- 

 shine. You might pass by it in one 

 stride, yet it is worthy to be thought of 

 for a week and remembered for a year. — 

 * Field and Hedgerow ' : The July Grass. 



I KNOW nothing to which the wind 

 has not some happy use. Is there 

 a grain of dust so small the wind 

 shall not find it out? ground in the 

 mill-wheel of the centuries, the iron 

 of the distant mountain floats like 

 gossamer, and is drunk up as dew by 

 leaf and living lung. — ' Field and Hedge- 

 row' : Winds of Heaven. 



96 



