NATURE'S SILENT WORK. 33 



nade by my band of katydids. Here is the 

 blessed peaceful quiet which nature offers on a 

 midsummer night. Here is no dust, no ill 

 smelling odors, no noise of commerce or indus- 

 try, but only the quiet of the growth of grass, 

 of trees, of crops in the near-by fields. 



"In cities high the careful crowds 



Of woe-worn mortals darkling go, 

 But in these sunny solitudes 

 My quiet roses blow." 



Nature does a million times as much work 

 here on earth as does man, does it without brag- 

 ging, does it without ostentation, does it noise- 

 lessly and without tiring, does it without com- 

 plaining of a ten-hour day or an insufficient 

 wage. In the silent watches of the night and 

 in the calm peaceful hours of the summer day 

 the work goes on ceaselessly, ever on. Cells 

 are being every moment built in the stems and 

 leaves and fruit of trees and herbs, and energy 

 stored therein. Wind and rain, with a little 

 more noise, are tearing down rock and banks 

 and the slopes of hills and forming therefrom 

 new soil. All food for the millions of animal 

 parasites, ourselves included, is thus being pro- 

 duced without a trace of that roar and rumble 

 which ever accompanies the deeds of man. 

 Work silently and constantly. Brag not. 

 Pause not except for sleep. Do something every 



