YOUNG TAMAR 103 



of the stream, for they dry gradually as the river re- 

 cedes, but always retain moisture for some inches 

 above the water-level. Everything in this valley is 

 fresh, delicious, and unexpectedly original, as becomes 

 a young stream full of hope and promise; never a curve 

 or dip but has its proper arrangement of sedges and 

 young rush, pungent water-mint and luxuriant reeds 

 springing above the water; even the old, dead alder, that 

 uplifts a lichened ghost where once it gloried in all the 

 splendour of russet catkins, neat cones, and whispering 

 leaves, lacks not for grace. This skeleton at the 

 feast of the living has a charm ; and beyond the 

 wreck, young Tamar, moved to sudden softness, dips 

 behind a little peninsula of green flags and decks 

 her loveliness in a garment of hawthorn — a true 

 bridal robe of silver and of pearl. Everywhere round 

 about the snow-white may trees light the valley, skirt 

 the spinnies, or stand in their glory alone upon the 

 meadows. But at Tamar side they are most fair to 

 see, for there they bend and cluster, scent the air with 

 sweetness, mass up gloriously against the summer 

 blue, bend humbly and lay white garlands upon the 

 bosom of the river. Presently their purity will flush 

 to pink at the first whisper of the end, and the million 

 petals, that have seen their little pictures reflected 

 beneath through the glory of June, will fall and flow 

 away along the shining highway of their dreams. 

 Then, too, the irises, now twinkling in a golden galaxy 

 against their blue-green leaves, will fade and curl dead 

 blossoms round their swelling seed-pods. 



