cs. A little later the spell of
an indescribable peace will rest upon the earth, but a peace that will
be but a brief truce between elements soon to close in struggle again.
To-day, however, one feels the repose of a finished work before the
first mellow touch of decay has come. The full, rich foliage still
shelters the paths upon which the leaves have not yet fallen; the
meadows are green; the skies soft and benignant. The conquest of
summer is still intact, but here and there one sees slight but
unmistakable evidence that the garrison, under cover of night, is
beginning its long retreat. In such a moment one feels a sudden sense
of loneliness, as if a friend were secretly preparing to desert one to
his foes.

In this pause of the season one finds the subtle beauty and
completeness of the summer growing upon him more and more. While the
work was going forward, there was such profound interest in the process
that one watched the turn and direction of the chisel rather than the
surface of the marble slowly answering, line by line, the overmastering
thought; but now that the months of toil are past, and all the
implements of labour are cast aside, the finished work absorbs all
thought and fills all imaginations. So vast is it, and on such a scale
of magnitude, that one hardly saw before the delicacy and exquisite
adjustment of parts, the marvellous art that framed the smallest leaf
and touched the vagrant wild flower still blooming on the edges of the
woodland. It is, after all, when the great festival days are over and
the thronging crowds have gone, that the true worshipper finds the
temple beautiful with the highest visions of worship, and in the
silence of deserted aisles and shrines sees with new wonder the
workmanship of the Deity. For all such this is the most solemn of all
the recurring Sabbaths of the year; the hush at noonday and at even is
itself an unspoken prayer. The moment of completion in the history of
any great work is always sacred. When the noise and dust of the
working days are gone, the great illuminating thought shines out
unobscured; and in the perception of this universal element, which on
the instant wins recognition from every mind, the personal element
vanishes; the mere skill of the workman is forgotten in the new
revelation of soul which it has given the world. For the same reason
Nature takes on in these few and peaceful days a spiritual aspect, and
the most careless finds himsel