V "WOODS AND FIELDS I99 



sights in nature than an English hay field on 

 a summer evening, with a copse perhaps at 

 one side and a brook on the other ; men with 

 forks tossing the hay in the air to dry; 

 women with wooden rakes arranging it in 

 swathes ready for the great four-horse wag- 

 gon, of collecting it in -cocks for the night ; 

 while some way off the mowers are still at 

 work, and we hear from time to time the 

 pleasant sound of the whetting of the scythe. 

 All are working with a will lest rain should 

 come and their labour be thrown away. This 

 too often happens. But though we often com- 

 plain of our English climate, it is yet, take 

 it all in all, one of the best in the world, 

 being comparatively free from extremes either 

 of heat or cold, drought or deluge. To the 

 happy mixture of sunshine and of rain we 

 owe the greenness of our fields, 



sparkling with dewdrops 

 Indwelt with little angels of the Sun, ^ 



lit and 



warmed by golden sunshine 

 And fed by silver rain, 



which now and again sprinkles the whole earth 

 with diamonds. 



1 Hamerton. 



