PURE AND REFLECTED LIGHT 
13 
mass of silver, the poplar seems to shake light 
from its leaves as though they were trembling 
little mirrors. By contrast the shadows across 
the lawn and along the mountain-side seem 
darker, though in reality they are lighter; and 
the light itself may seem fainter because widely 
diffused, whereas it is stronger and fiercer. By 
ten o’clock the sun is quite high in the heay- 
ens. Heat is radiating from the earth. Strata 
of warm air are forming along the ground, 
moving uneasily hither and thither in their 
search for an exit through the colder air to the 
upper regions. Dust and moisture, too, are 
rising; and by noon perhaps there is a haze 
lying along the hills and meadows, the distant 
valleys look gray and warm in the sunlight, the 
mountains beyond them are faintly blue, the 
sky itself looks yellow or rosy. Color is every- 
where, more predominant than in the morning, 
but less contrasted, because the atmosphere has 
blended and toned all nature to its own golden 
hue. 
How different this hot light of noon from 
the dawn-light! The latter is preferred be- 
cause it is soft and agreeable to the eyes, but it 
would be difficult to imagine anything more 
beautiful or more splendid than bright sun- 
The light at 
noon. 
