136 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



with them, in spirit, and brought yourself to 

 believe as they do that every bright, sunny, 

 summer day is the brightest and best that ever 

 blessed the world ? To do so is an excellent 

 safeguard against pessimistic dyspepsia. And 

 as the day wore on, have you noted how the 

 exultation that was so marked a feature at sun- 

 rise has given way almost to languor at noon- 

 tide, but never the sweetness of the song is 

 lost ? The soul is ever present, but in a weary 

 body, a body that renews its vigor as the after- 

 noon hours pass, and every utterance is abun- 

 dantly reassuring at sunset Bathed in the 

 golden light of the setting sun and in the 

 dreamy purple tints and ghost-like shadows of 

 the gloaming, what incomparable sweetness is 

 that of the lingering few that all reluctantly bid 

 farewell to day ! Having listened thus, from 

 dawn to dark, as I have so often listened, there 

 is nothing but peace in the silence of the night 

 that followed, silence, soothing as the calm 

 that rests in summer's star-lit skies. 



