Music of the Wild 



oring. ]V';irl Mliite and pearl fine are tlie lustrous 

 blooms of the arrowhead. AN'hite pond lilies lift 

 faces of snow to the morning and resemble star 

 reflections at night, while the yellow are the piu-est 

 gold of nature's alchemy. ^Vater hyacinths and 

 blue flags flash back the azure of the sky above 

 them, and clumps of foxfire blaze like flaming 

 torches. 



On the tops of the higliest mountains can be 

 found evidence that they once Avere submerged, 

 and so I imagine that as the water receded, in the 

 beginning, the whole earth was one great marsh. 

 When the ^Aaters evajjorated or were pushed back 

 by eruptions, the highest places were left bare, the 

 next highest grew forests, the lower remain marsh, 

 and the lowest lakes and seas. 



The road to the marsh is not so difficidt to And 



as that to the forest. ]Men learn that it is easier 



The to fell and biu'n trees than to control water in 



Road to depth and quantitv. The marsh road probably 



the Marsh J i .^ i . 



will be either deep sand or corduroy laid in a bed 

 of muck; a mere path to the object of your goal, 

 but on either side of it lies the garden of the Lord. 

 Acres upon acres of the most lirilliant color wav- 

 ing above man-height, interlaced by delicate vines 

 and M-atered with fountains springing naturally 

 from the A\et bosom of eartli and flowing away in 

 tiny streams so narrow they are soon lost beneath 

 the flowers closing over them, and so cold they 



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