Travels with a donkey in the Cevennes . S WITH A DONKEY room. By the time I had made myarrangements and fed Modestine, the daywas already beginning to decline. 1 buckledmyself to the knees into my sack and madea hearty meal; and as soon as the sun wentdown, I pulled my cap over my eyes andfell asleep. Night is a dead monotonous period undera roof; but in the open world it passesliglitly, with its stars and dews and per-fumes, and the hours are marked by changesin the face of Nature. What seems a kindof temporal death to people choked be-tween walls and curtains, is only a lightand living slumb
Travels with a donkey in the Cevennes . S WITH A DONKEY room. By the time I had made myarrangements and fed Modestine, the daywas already beginning to decline. 1 buckledmyself to the knees into my sack and madea hearty meal; and as soon as the sun wentdown, I pulled my cap over my eyes andfell asleep. Night is a dead monotonous period undera roof; but in the open world it passesliglitly, with its stars and dews and per-fumes, and the hours are marked by changesin the face of Nature. What seems a kindof temporal death to people choked be-tween walls and curtains, is only a lightand living slumber to the man who sleepsafield. All night long he can hear Naturebreathing deeply and freely; even as shetakes her rest, she turns and smiles; andthere is one stirring hour unknown to thosewho dwell in houses, when a wakeful in-fluence goes abroad over the sleeping hemi-sphere, and all the outdoor world are ontheir feet. It is then that the cock firstcrows, not this time to announce the dawn,but like a cheerful watchman speeding the118. A M(;HT AM0X(; THK FINh> A NIGHT AMONG THE PINES course of night. Cattle awake on themeadows; sheep break their fast on dewyhill-sides, and change to a new lair amongthe ferns; and houseless men, who havelain down with the fowls, open their dimeyes and behold the beauty of the night. At what inaudible summons, at whatgentle touch of Nature, are all these sleepersthus recalled in the same hour to life?Do the stars rain down an influence, ordo we share some thrill of mother earthbelow our resting bodies ? Even shepherdsand old country-folk, who are the deepestread in these arcana, have not a guess asto the means or purpose of this nightlyresurrection. Towards two in the morningthey declare the thing takes place; andneither know nor inquire further. And atleast it is a pleasant incident. We aredisturbed in our slumber only, like theluxurious Montaigne, that we may thebetter and more sensibly relish it. Wehave a moment to look upon the
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstevensonrobertlouis1, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
