V WOOBS AND FIELDS 191 



and tempt us gradually out into the green 

 fields. 



What pleasant memories these very words 

 recall, games in the hay as children, and sunny 

 summer days throughout life. 



" Consider," says Ruskin,^ " what we owe 

 to the meadow grass, to the covering of the 

 dark ground by that glorious enamel, by 

 the companies of those soft countless and 

 peaceful spears. The fields ! Follow but 

 forth for a little time the thought of all that 

 we ought to recognise in those words. All 

 spring and summer is in them — the walks 

 by silent scented paths, the rests in noonday 

 heat, the joy of herds and flocks, the power 

 of all shepherd life and meditation, the life of 

 sunlight upon the world, falling in emerald 

 streaks, and soft blue shadows, where else it 

 would have struck on the dark mould or 

 scorching dust, pastures beside the pacing 

 brooks, soft banks and knolls of lowly hills, 

 thymy slopes of down overlooked by the blue 

 line of lifted sea, crisp lawns all dim with 

 early dew, or smooth in evening warmth of 



1 Modern Painters. 



