TROPIC DAYS 



IN IDLE MOMENT 



" ' Are you not frequently idle ?' 



" ' Never, brother. \Mien we are not engaged in our trai6c vre are 

 engaged in our relaxations.' " — Borrow. 



On the smooth beaches and in the silent bush, when 

 time is not regulated by formahties or shackled by 

 conventions, there delicious lapses — fag-ends of the 

 day to be utihsed in a dreamy mood which observes 

 and accepts the happenings of Nature without dis- 

 turbing the shyest of her manifestations or permitting 

 the mind to dwell on any but the vaguest speculations. 



Such idle moments are mine. Let these pages tell 

 of their occupation. 



As the years pass it is proved that the administra- 

 tion of the affairs of an island, the settled population 

 of which is limited to three, involves pleasant though 

 exacting duties. It is a gainful government — not gain- 

 ful in the accepted sense, but in all that vitally matters 

 — personal freedom, absence of irksome regulations 

 remindful of the street, liberty- to enjoy the mood of 

 the moment and to commune with Nature in her most 

 fascinating aspects. Those who are out of touch with 

 great and dusty events may, by way of compensation, 

 be the more sensitive to the processes of the universe, 



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