330 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



the open air. And all is so exquisite in workmanship, 

 so wonderful in its growth, so beautiful in its drapery! 

 Surely here in the stillness God is, if He is anywhere 

 on earth. Men can not understand the miracles of 

 Christ, they say, and yet are they dead to the constantly 

 recurring miracles of sunrise and sunset, and spring 

 and autumn, and the growth of the year; but then, that 

 is every day, and they do not see the miracle. There 

 is so much variety in Nature, so much profusion of 

 beautiful scenery — grand contours of mountain wild- 

 ness, illimitable extent of prairie, long, winding sea 

 coasts, quiet slopes and dells, stretches of peaceful 

 woodland : — carpeted with flowers and grasses, covered 

 with towering trees of living green, an endless harmony 

 of color, with the blue sky above, fleecy clouds, the 

 broad light of day, and the majesty and silence of night 

 and the dew ! What can we say? 



Thus to be surrounded with all the influences of 

 Nature, the fresh wild flowers in spring, the great blue 

 sky in summer, the turning leaves in autumn, and in 

 winter the snow; to live in daily communion with the 

 growing earth; to see the seasons change; and to be 

 in constant response to the beauty and miracle of wild 

 Nature: — if there is anything more to be desired in life 

 than this I do not know it. Just the joy of living in 

 the open air — that is enough in life. 



Mr. Norman Gale has written a prayer, to be 

 found in his "Orchard Songs," which, in its aspiration, 

 exhales the very breath from the grass and the dew. 

 Doubtless it languages the attitude of every lover of 

 the country: 



