the earth, to give it root, and never abandon the happy
neighborhood. Over all the sterile world is spread this green,
mysterious carpet of love. Every Spring it is renewed, and its peculiar
writing is legible only to the loved one, like the nosegay of the
East; he will read forever, yet never enough, and will perceive daily
new meanings, new delightful revelations of loving nature. This
infinite enjoyment is the secret charm, which the survey of the earth's
surface has for me, while each region solves other riddles, and has
always led me to divine whence I came and whither I go."

"Yes," said Henry, "we began to speak of childhood's years, and of
education, because we are in your garden; and the revelation of
childhood, the innocent world of flowers, imperceptibly brought to our
thoughts and lips the recollection of old acquaintanceship. My father
is also very fond of gardening, and spends the happiest hours of his
life among the flowers. This has certainly kept his heart open towards
children, since flowers are their counterpart. The teeming opulence of
infinite life, the mighty powers of later times, the splendor of the
end of the world, and the golden future which awaits all things, we
here see closely entwined, but still to be most plainly and clearly in
tender youthfulness. All-powerful love is already working, but does not
yet enflame; it is no devouring fire, but a melting vapor; and however
intimate the union of the tenderest souls may be, yet it is accompanied
by no intense excitement, no consuming madness, as in brutes. Thus is
childhood below here nearest to the earth; as on the other hand clouds
are perhaps the types of the second, higher childhood, of the paradise
regained; and hence they so beneficently shed their dew upon the
first."

"There is indeed something very mysterious in the clouds," said
Sylvester, "and certain overcloudings often have a wonderful influence
upon us. Trailing over our heads, they would take us up and away in
their cold shades; and when their form is lovely and varied, like an
outbreathed wish of our soul, then the clearness and the splendid
light, which reigns upon earth, is like a presage of unknown, ineffable
glory. But there are also dark, solemn, and fearful overcloudings, in
which all the terrors of old night appear to threaten. The sky seems as
if it never would be clear again; the serene blue is hidden; and a wan
copper hue upon the dark gray ground awakens fear and anx