22 The Changeful Skies 



is likely to prove so many miles of walking 

 to no purpose. It is not fair to say that 

 inaccuracy is sure to follow the free play of 

 the imagination. Our fancy need not aft as 

 a distorting glass, and does not, except with 

 the author's connivance. The greatest blun- 

 derers about nature have been the precise 

 students who occasionally find themselves 

 outside their closets. It is one thing, as 

 Bryant puts it, to 



Go forth under the open sky and list 

 To Nature's teachings, 



but another to know what to do when you 

 get there. My suggestion is to let your 

 imagination have scope as well as your ap- 

 preciation of the a&ual facts you meet with. 

 There need be no conflici in your mind, nor 

 any misleading statement, if you are moved 

 to speak. 



To return : quickly again the sky was 

 bright and blue, and the meadows were 

 filled with light, a clear, warm, penetrating 

 light, that was reaching the rootlets and 

 bulbs in the damp soil, quickening them. 

 The grape hyacinth had already responded, 

 and reflected the deepest color the April 



