TREES IN MODERN PAINTING 281 



death, which love dreads so much, is, none the 

 less, for us mortals, the condition without which 

 love cannot be. The joy and love of nature's 

 spring-time are gone. We are also near the 

 ending of another day. But these children are 

 only in the dawn and spring-time of their life. 

 Yet already one of them forecasts the autumn 

 of life. She is distraught ; as one would cast 

 incense on an altar she adds to the heap of 

 fallen leaves — ^an acceptance of autumn for the 

 sake of spring, of death for the sake of love. 

 And her depth of feeling is emphasised by the 

 want of it in the younger children. Look at 

 her sister, the mischievous little minx who holds 

 the basket ; she looks straight at you, her mouth 

 by no means drooping, and her eyes by no 

 means distraught : — 



A simple child, 

 That lightly draws its breath. 

 And feels its life in every limb, 

 What should it know of death ? 



And by way of further contrast is the differ- 

 ence between the two children of the house — 

 the ones already referred to — and the gardener's 

 children ; the former rightly, not forwardly, self- 



