JUNE-TIME SYMMETRY IN NATURE. 93 



gala-months. It is " knee-deep in June-time." 

 Insect life is in its glory. Birds rejoice therefor 

 and have a surfeit of food. The growing tips 

 of shrubs and trees stretch inches in a single 

 night. The foliage of oak, maple, beech and 

 other trees and the stems and leaves of the blue- 

 grass are all of that rich, dark succulent green 

 which betokens cells well nourished. The boles 

 of the trees, gray, smooth, strong, upright, the 

 slopes slanting gently down to the slowly flow- 

 ing brooklet, the shadows shortening or length- 

 ening as the hour determines, the sunshine 

 glinting and glistening from a myriad of re- 

 flecting leaves, the breeze cool and refreshing 

 passing ever by all denote a perfect symmetry 

 in the affairs of nature a symmetry which can 

 be seen at its best only in June-time, when 

 warmth and moisture and sunshine and genial 

 breeze combine in a day of growth and perfect 

 summer. 



And who does not rejoice to see plants and 

 animals grow? In growing objects new cells 

 are born in far greater rapidity than old ones 

 die. New protoplasm is formed that other 

 objects far down the. vista of the future may 

 live. In the tiny leaves, now just unfolding, 

 the elements of nature are seeking their affini- 

 ties, are forming combinations that in a few 

 days will enable the mother plant to build up 

 new tissue in stem or flower or fruit. Both leaf 



