NATURE NEAR LONDON ae^ 



haste, and both horses and human folks are con- 

 tent in themselves. 



As you sit in summer on the beach and gaze 

 afar over the blue waters scarcely flecked with 

 foam, how slowly the distant ship moves along the 

 horizon. It is almost, but not quite, still. You 

 go to lunch and return, and the vessel is still there; 

 what patience the man at the wheel must have. 

 So, now, resting here on the stile, see the plough 

 yonder, travelling as it were with all sails set. 



Three shapely horses in line draw the share. 

 The traces are taut, the swing-tree like a yard 

 braced square, the helmsman at the tiller bears hard 

 upon the stilts. But does it move ? The leading 

 horse, seen distinct against the sky, lifts a hoof and 

 places it down again, stepping in the last furrow 

 made. But then there is a perceptible pause before 

 the next hoof rises, and yet again a perceptible 

 delay in the pull of the muscles. The stooping 

 ploughman walking in the new furrow, with one 

 foot often on the level and the other in the hollow, 

 sways a little with the lurch of his implement, but 

 barely drifts ahead. 



While watched they scarcely move ; but now 

 look away for a time and on returning the plough 

 itself and the lower limbs of the ploughman and 

 the horses are out of sight. They have gone over 

 a slope, and are " hull down " ; a few minutes 



