SLEEPING OUT OF DOORS 



glory of the starry firmament; the southern half of the 

 heavens stood revealed in all its majesty, the Milky 

 Way a sparkling, scintillating radiance. From a child 

 I had loved the stars, but I felt I had never seen them 

 before. A singular exhilaration, a curious sense of 

 exaltation took possession of me. Why could I not 

 float in long, swinging cadences, ever higher and higher 

 into that far ether? And the sensation was so 

 exquisite, the dreamy pleasure so intense, that I de- 

 liberately dropped the cords of reason and launched 

 forth upon the wings of imagination. That night 

 brought me far more than sleep. It brought me a 

 revelation. So it is that the soul of man when released 

 from the bondage of earth floats upward, ever upward 

 to become one with the Father. 



By the end of the week, the thrilling novelty of the 

 out-of-doors had partially worn away, leaving a pleas- 

 ing sense of unreality to refresh the drowsy spirit. 

 That delicious night air filled with the fragrance of 

 box and heliotrope, of phlox and petunia, of jasmine 

 and rose geranium! Is it possible that once on a time 



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