Songs of the Fields 



ground you may be A^ery sure j'ou A\'ill 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 de2)endent on their beasts, and 

 so have sought to make suitable provision for tliem. 

 This setting off a space of growing food for stock 

 is without date, and over and over the chroniclers of 

 the Bible made use of the comjjarison 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 

 tlie 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 the 

 eye rises the picture of a lush, green meadow sjn-in- 

 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 M'ith 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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