THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 7 



none of it is left to a storied past, none sold to a 

 mortgaged future. And the whole of this life is 

 action; and the whole of this action is joy. The 

 moments of fear in an animal's life are moments 

 of reaction, negative, vanishing. Action and joy 

 are constant, the joint laws of all animal life, of 

 all nature, from the shining stars that sing together, 

 to the roar of a bitter northeast storm across these 

 wintry fields. 



We shall get little rest and healing out of na- 

 ture until we have chased this phantom Fear into 

 the dark of the moon. It is a most difficult drive. 

 The pursued too often turns pursuer, and chases 

 us back into our burrows, where there is nothing 

 but the dark to make us afraid. If every time a 

 bird cries in alarm, a mouse squeaks with pain, 

 or a rabbit leaps in fear from beneath our feet, 

 we, too, leap and run, dodging the shadow as if 

 it were at our own heels, then we shall never get 

 farther toward the open fields than Chuchundra, 

 the muskrat, gets toward the middle of the bun- 

 galow floor. We shall always creep around by 

 the wall, whimpering. 



But there is no such thing as fear out of doors. 

 There was, there will be ; you may see it for an 



