MIDSUMMER NIGHT SOUNDS 



WHO that loves nature does not find joy 

 in her amazing vitality and fecundity, her 

 absolute unconquerableness ? How mysteri- 

 ously and potently she survives, in spite of 

 the destructive encroachments of man! 

 How she springs up about his very heels the 

 moment he turns from trampling on her, 

 and returns good for evil by covering his 

 unsightly pathway with the mantle of her 

 ancient beauty! She follows him back to 

 his city walls with her luxuriant verdure, 

 her bird-songs, her inextinguishable wild 

 life of every kind. Such tenacity of exist- 

 ence! Such cheerful, hopeful, undismayed 

 clinging to the primal gift of God ! It gives 

 one fresh courage for all good things, to see 

 how nature triumphs over every abuse. 



In midsummer, especially, the strong vi- 

 tality and enormous fecundity of wild life 

 reveal themselves on every hand. How rank 

 the vegetation, how abundant the evidences 

 of animal and insect life everywhere! You 

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