WHEAT, BARLEY, AND OATS 



DAYS IN MY GARDEN 



of a ripening plum. Or note the symmetrical rows 

 of barley corns, in a myriad graceful arching heads, 

 each barbed grain armed with its sharp sword- 

 like awn, the perfect workmanship and finish 

 of a single plant of any of these cereals : the 

 polished tapering of the strong hollow 

 nodose stem, the exquisite curves, the 

 elegance and colouring designed in un- 

 faltering beauty, and its power to extract 

 from the earth the abundance of mar- 

 vellous life-endowed grains ; each with 

 its storehouse of food, containing all that 

 is best for the sustenance of man. 



In no remote hidden corner of Nature's 

 workshop can ugliness or failure be found ; 

 test her with the highest power of magni- 

 fication a lens can give, there is no fault. 

 ^y Up on the mountain peak the great granite 

 boulders pierce the floating clouds and seem 

 .to know the secrets of the blue beyond, the 



Drear deserts now of broken rocks, 

 Where Earth's bared skeleton appears, 

 Shattered by Frost's fierce hammer shocks, 

 Riven by mallets of the years ! 



164 



