THE COUNTRY LIFE. 259 



ing mind. The whole office of Matter is to 

 feed life to feed the green rushes, and the 

 roses that are about to be ; to feed the 

 swallows above, and us that wander beneath 

 them. So much greater is this green and 

 common rush than all the Alps. 



" Fanning so swiftly, the wasp's wings are 

 but just visible as he passes ; did he pause, the 

 light would be apparent through their texture. 

 On the wings of the dragon-fly as he hovers 

 an instant before he darts there is a prismatic 

 gleam. These wing textures are even more 

 delicate than the minute filaments on a swal- 

 low's quill, more delicate than the pollen of a 

 flower. They are formed of matter indeed, 

 but how exquisitely it is resolved into the 

 means and organs of life ! /Though not often 

 consciously recognised, perhaps this is the 

 great pleasure of summer, to watch the earth, 

 the dead particles, resolving themselves into 

 the living case of life, to see the seed-leaf push 

 aside the clod and become by degrees the per- 

 fumed flower. From the tiny mottled egg 

 come the wings that by-and-by shall pass the 

 immense sea. It is in this marvellous trans- 



172 



