SUMMER VOICES. 37 



CHAPTER III. 



SUMMER VOICES. 



Just now the woods and the fields that surround 

 them are never still ; by day or night the pulse of 

 Nature beats audibly. 



It is mid - summer in the woodlands, and so 

 hot is it that the seed -pods of the furze bushes 

 pop and crack, the seeds sowing themselves in all 

 directions, Nature being her own seed-distributor. 

 The lizards stretch themselves on the bare stones 

 out in the open, or climb to the very top 

 shoots of the furze bushes, inflating their throats, 

 apparently from the pure joy of existence. It 

 is hot, but this is a life-giving heat; and there 

 are various kinds of heat — one will take all the 

 life out of you, whilst another will make you feel, 



