BROKEN AND SHADED LIGHT 



27 



npon rank, one so close upon the heels of the 

 other that they are scarcely to be distinguished. 

 How often the traveller has seen them in Paris 

 swaying above the Arc de Triomphe and drift- 

 ing down over the Champs Elysees, flooding 

 the city with torrents of rain ! How often he 

 has seen them defiling over the plains of Bava- 

 ria, covering the Bohemian forests, or muf- 

 fling the hill-tops of New England ! There 

 is no break in the lines, no sunlight streaming 

 through. At times a company seems to lift 

 and lighten and the horizon appears to expand ; 

 but it is soon followed by a thicker company, 

 the light darkens, the horizon contracts, and 

 the rain waves through the air like the folds of 

 an enormous mantle shaken out by the wind. 



And how dark the night following such a 

 day ! There is no moon, and only the sharp- 

 pointed stars illumine the watery canopy from 

 above. On such a night the wind seems to rise 

 as the darkness falls, the mountains fade into 

 vague black spots and then blur out, the break- 

 ers with phosphor-white crests fall heavy and 

 booming on the sea-shore, and the forest moans 

 and vibrates like a vast ^Eolian harp. There is 

 little beauty here, save in sound and contem- 

 plation. Not even lightning throws a momen- 



