Songs of the Fields 



ground you may l)e very sure you will find the 

 shade of trees and bushes, and frequently there is 

 running water. Wherever you locate these you 

 hear a swelling bird and insect chorus. From the 

 dawn of history men in travel and in burden-bear- 

 ing have been very dependent on their beasts, and 

 so have sought to make suitable provision for them. 

 This setting off a space of growing food for stock 

 is Avithout date, and over and over the chroniclers of 

 the Bible made use of the comparison of the care of 

 men for their flocks with the care of God for men. 

 ■ "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. 

 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He 

 leadeth me beside the still waters." 



The bodily comfort we give to our beasts made 

 the basis of a comparison with the spiritual com- 

 fort God gives us, in one of the most beautiful ex- 

 pressions ever portrayed in language, "He mak- 

 eth me to lie down in green pastures." Before tlie 

 eye rises the picture of a lush, green meadow sprin- 

 kled with daisies and dotted with buttercups; the 

 lark overhead, and the full-fed cattle lying — pic- 

 tures of contentment in the shade of the newly- 

 leafing trees that ring with the songs of courting 

 birds. The thought of a pasture is in some way 

 connected with spring; perhaps because, as at no 

 other time, the cattle cry for it, and beg piteously 

 to be released to natural food. At that time the 

 pastures are green; later they may not be. Then 



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