62 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



the dawn is reflected is not hard or smooth 

 like metal ; it is not so compact even as the 

 softest, thinnest cloud of the stratus, yet what 

 beautiful light it throws off ! The white light 

 that hangs over a city at night when there is 

 fog, caused by the glare of many lamps thrown 

 back from the fog bank, is brutal and coarse by 

 comparison ; and the ruddy sunset caused by 

 dust and cloud is more palpable and less crys- 

 talline. There is no glare or flare about the 

 dawn. The light comes from a deep transpar- 

 ency quivering under the rays of the sun, re- 

 ceiving its illumination in straight shafts of 

 fire, and yet reflecting it with a softness of 

 glow that delights the eye by its purity and 

 delicacy. 



Surely this light of dawn is the highest mani- 

 festation of beauty in the universe. Colors do 

 not equal it, lines and forms of cloud and earth 

 are petty compared to it, shadow is its very 

 antithesis. It is not wonderful that it should 

 have been the inspiration of Orphic song and 

 the symbol of deity in ancient religions. To- 

 day it seems a sign of preternatural glory even 

 to modern materialism. Not the sun itself. 

 but its light (symbolic of the purity and lumi- 

 nosity of Deity) bowed the head of Zoroaster. 



