68 Woodside. 



lingers in spite of the havoc which ignorant people play 

 with their trowels and baskets. 



After a long rest we start again, and soon come across 

 another woodland clearing. We have seen many beautiful 

 pictures to-day, some charming us by their simplicity, others 

 by their delicacy, but here we come across one which is 

 almost startling from its brilliancy. Here, in this clearing, 

 a bed of blue-bells stretches far, far away on either side of 

 us, fading like a blue mist in the uncut wood yonder. Just 

 such a picture as this Tennyson must have seen when he 

 beheld 



" Sheets of hyacinths, 

 That seem'd the heavens up-breaking through the earth" 



and truly, nothing but the deep azure of a summer noon-day 

 sky can give a more continuous sheet of glowing living blue. 

 Scattered here and there are spikes of the early purple or- 

 chis, with its striking spotted leaves the " ladies' fingers" 

 of our country children whilst the delicate tint of the ane- 

 mone occasionally appears ; but these are almost lost in that 

 sea of brilliant colour. 



We will sit on this felled tree and watch the sun set. 

 All around us is a sea of colour ; the fragrant scents of 

 spring are borne upon the air and steal upon our senses ; the 

 sky is rapidly becoming tinged with orange and crimson, 

 sure companions in a lovely sunset glow ; whilst right ahead 

 the trees throw their mighty branches overhead, forming a 

 leafy canopy which fades in the distance into an avenue of 

 more regular appearance. The shades of eve are falling fast. 

 Longer and longer grow the shadows of the trees as the 

 rays become more and more slanting. Gradually they blend 

 with the surrounding light until they are shadows no longer. 



