"THE STORY OF MY HEART." 279 



with the assumption that there is no religion 

 at all which need be considered. On the 

 broad downs the only bell ever heard is the dis- 

 tant sheep-bell, the only hymn of praise is the 

 song of the lark. He has wandered among 

 these lonely hills until he has forgotten the 

 village church and all that he was taught 

 there. Everything has clean escaped his 

 memory. It is not that the old teaching no 

 longer guides his conduct ; the old teaching 

 no longer lives at all in his mind. 



He has communed so much with Nature 

 that he is intoxicated with her fulness and her 

 beauty. Nothing else seems worth thinking 

 of. He lies upon the turf and feels the embrace 

 of the great round world. 



" I used to lie down in solitary corners at 

 full length on my back, so as to feel the em- 

 brace of the earth. The grass stood high 

 above me, and the shadows of the tree-branches 

 danced on my face. I looked up at the sky, 

 with half- closed eyes to bear the dazzling light. 

 Bees buzzed over, sometimes a butterfly passed, 

 there was a hum in the air, greenfinches sang 



