THE COUNTRY LIFE. 233 



stood something still to be discovered a 

 mystery. 



" So the white spray rushes along the low 

 broken wall of rocks, the sun gleams on the 

 flying fragments of the wave, again it sinks, 

 and the rhythmic motion holds the mind, as 

 an invisible force holds back the tide. A faith 

 of expectancy, a sense that something may 

 drift up from the unknown, a large belief in 

 the unseen resources of the endless space out 

 yonder, soothes the mind with dreamy hope. 



" The little rules and little experiences, all 

 the petty ways of narrow life, are shut off 

 behind by the ponderous and impassable cliff; 

 as if we had dwelt in the dim light of a cave, 

 but coming out at last to look at the sun, a 

 great stone had fallen and closed the entrance, 

 so that there was no return to the shadow. 

 The impassable precipice shuts off our former 

 selves of yesterday, forcing us to look out over 

 the sea only, or up to the deeper heaven. 



" These breadths draw out the soul ; we feel 

 that we have wider thoughts than we knew ; 

 the soul has been living, as it were, in a nut- 

 shell, all unaware of its own power, and now 



