ies, the close of a bright
day in early summer; just when things
in outer nature were looking their best.
The snowdrop and crocus had long ago
hid their faces to make way for more
ambitious rivals. That always pleasant
season was a great way past, when you
see the drowsy plants (after being
tucked up--it may have been for weeks--in
a white snowy coverlet), first
roused from their sound winter sleep,
yawning and stretching themselves, and
rubbing their little eyes, and looking;
wonderingly about them, saying--"What!
is it now time to wake up
and dress?" The tree foliage was
approaching, if it had not already
reached, perfection; all the mosses,
too, looked so green and fresh; and
how prettily the various ferns were
uncoiling themselves among the rocks
and shady nooks by the stream;
while on this particular occasion
the very Sun seemed to have coaxed
his setting beams into the production
of most gorgeous colouring. Belts of
golden cloud were streaking the western
sky; such long trails of them, that it
was impossible to say whether the great
ball of fire, which gave them their
glory, had actually gone down behind
the horizon, or was just about to do so.
At all events, it was unmistakably
_sundown_: though the scene was far
removed from northern latitudes, it
might be designated by the familiar
Scotch "gloamin'." The groves, and
dells, and hedgerows, which had kept
up a goodly concert the livelong day,
were now silent. Their winged tenants
had, one after another, slunk to their
nests, with very tired throats. They
had left, apparently, all, or nearly all
the music to the aforesaid brook in the
dell. A stone's-throw higher up the
valley, this latter, fed by recent rains,
rattled in gleeful style over a bed of
white and grey pebbles--the tiny
limpid waves chasing one another as
if they were playing at hide-and-seek
amid the sedges, king-cups, and rushes.
But it had now reached a quieter spot
where, however, it still kept up a gentle,
soothing evensong, a lullaby peculiar
to itself, as if it wanted to hush the
little birds asleep in their varied leafy
cradles. The very cattle, that had
been seen lying lazily out of the heat
under the beech-trees, had ceased their
lowings. In fact, Nature had rung
her curfew bell, and the sentry stars
were coming out, one by one, to keep
their night-watch.

* * * * *

Let me first, however, say a word
about this Dewdrop, which had awa