SWAYING TREE TOPS 



all. Startling is the splash of the 

 fish a dozen rods from shore. I climb 

 the steps over the meadow fence, and 

 sit on the topmost, listening to the 

 crickets in the grass, and the cry of 

 the long-legged bird that wades in 

 the shallows by the reef. It is an 

 hour of indolent enjoyment, an hour 

 of Sabbath worship in the temple not 

 made with hands, temporal upon the 

 earth. 



Thus the season, either on the slope 

 that rises up to mid-summer, or down 

 from it, has these moments choice as 

 treasure of rare worth and short life. 

 While we are thinking thus, we may 

 as well notice how closely this slop- 

 ing of the seasons figures the hu- 

 man life. There is a summit of 

 maturity, when man may look back 



[122] 



