220 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



wild sheep that graze in northern pas- 

 tures, drop their crystal fleece to wrap 

 the earth from winter. 



A morning in winter ; can there be 

 morning in the dead season? There 

 is no dead season. Men say that it is 

 summer, or autumn, or winter, but 

 Nature has set no fixed bounds to her 

 actions, and does not perish when she 

 casts off her apparel, but, gathering her 

 forces to herself, prepares for new 

 effort. Nature knows but two changes, 

 putting forth and withdrawing, and 

 between these there is a constant tran- 

 sition. We call the first of them birth, 

 the last, death, and choose to surround 

 them with mystery. Nature, left to 

 herself, has gentle gradations, blending 

 all from the first breath to the last, as 

 she mingles the prismatic colours, with 

 no gap to measure where youth ends or 



