138 SYLVAN "WINTER. 



find in their silk-lined cases, or suspended in 

 their protecting hammocks, a thousand forms of 

 insect beauty, nursed by Nature through the in- 

 clemency of the "Winter ; and he will find — awake 

 and active — animal, bird, and insect life, in 

 greater force than he ever suspected. 



Movement only there is in the ever-moving 

 breeze, giving life to stillness, moving responsive 

 boughs and twigs, and carrying many-hued clouds 

 across the sky. Then there is the motion down- 

 wards, downwards, of rain and hail and snow, 

 the plash or roar of the river or torrent, the hurry 

 of the flood, and the rush of the cataract. 



Force is shown in the resistless passage of 

 lightning, the impetuous power of stream and 

 flood, the impact of the sea, and the overwhelming 

 violence, or, it may be, only the gentle pressure of 

 the wind. In all these is life, movement, and force ; 

 in all their aspects, in all their phases and degrees, 

 in all the moods or forms in which Nature exhibits 

 them, there is beauty. 



