V WOODS AND FIELDS 185 



gradually disappearing. This is, I suppose, un- 

 avoidable, but it is a matter of regret. Forests 

 have so many charms of their own. They give 

 a delightful impression of space and of abun- 

 dance. 



The extravagance is sublime. Trees, as 

 Jefferies says, " throw away handf uls of flower ; 

 and in the meadows the careless, spendthrift 

 ways of grass and flower and all things are not 

 to be expressed. Seeds by the hundred million 

 float with absolute indifference on the air. 

 The oak has a hundred thousand more leaves 

 than necessary, and never hides a single acorn, 

 Nothing utilitarian — everything on a scale of 

 splendid waste. Such noble, broadcast, open- 

 armed waste is delicious to behold. Never 

 was there such a lying proverb as ' Enough is 

 as good as a feast.' Give me the feast ; give 

 me squandered millions of seeds, luxurious 

 carpets of petals, green mountains of oak- 

 leaves. The greater the waste the greater 

 the enjoyment — the nearer the approach to 

 real life." 



It is of course impossible here to give any 

 idea of the complexity of structure of our 



