yes and behold the beauty of the night.

"At what inaudible summons, at what gentle touch of Nature,
are all these sleepers thus recalled in the same hour to
life? Do the stars rain down an influence, or do we share
some thrill of mother earth below our resting bodies? Even
shepherds and old country-folk, who are the deepest read in
these arcana, have not a guess as to the means or purpose of
this nightly resurrection. Towards two in the morning they
declare the thing takes place; and neither know nor inquire
further. And at least it is a pleasant incident. We are
disturbed in our slumber only, like the luxurious Montaigne,
'that we may the better and more sensibly enjoy it.' We have
a moment to look upon the stars. And there is a special
pleasure for some minds in the reflection that we share the
impulse with all outdoor creatures in our neighborhood, that
we have escaped out of the Bastille of civilization, and are
become, for the time being, a more kindly animal and a sheep
of Nature's flock." ("Travels with a Donkey.")

Length of Descriptions.

There is one more step in the exclusion of details. This considers
neither the point of view nor the purpose of the writer, but it is
what is due the reader. Stevenson says in one of his essays that a
description which lasts longer than two minutes is never attempted in
conversation. The listener cannot hold the details enumerated. The
clearest statement regarding this comes from Jules Lemaitre in a
criticism upon some descriptions by Emile Zola which the critic says
are praised by persons who have never read them. He says:--

"It has been one of the greatest literary blunders of the
time to suppose that an enumeration of parts is a picture,
to think that forever placing details side by side, however
picturesque they may be, is able in the end to make a
picture, to give us any conception of the vast spectacles in
the physical universe. In reality, a written description
arranges its parts in our mind only when the impression of
the first features of which it is formed are remembered
sufficiently, so that we can easily join the first to those
which complete and end it. In short, a piece of description
is ineffective if we cannot hold in mind all its details at
one time. It is necessary that all the details coexist in
our m