“Dear me, that sounds beautiful!” cried Mollie. “I often think we’re lucky, but I can’t think things like you.”
“Tell us more,” begged Eva, who regarded it as a story, and she linked her arm through Miss Gibson’s.
Miss Gibson laughed merrily.
“Very well, dear. Did you ever think what a world of wonder we live in?”
“Oh, that’s all right when you’re rich and travel about!” said Eileen. “You’re sure to see a lot of wonderful things then.”
“Why, my dear, they surround you.”
Eileen looked round. “I don’t see anything so very wonderful.” Eileen was in the mood for argument.
“Look at those lights and shades down in the gullies; look at those twinkling little golden clover flowers. Look at the sunlight flickering on those great snow-white gum trees; and later on this evening we will watch the sunset, with all its glorious colours that artists rave about and try in vain to seize for their canvas. Think of all the beauty and wonder of the seasons, the coming and going, the birth and bloom and fading and decaying and silence and rest of our wonder world. We ought to all try and keep young at heart, and enjoy and love the big open book of Nature that is flung open all around us. Think of the glorious moonlight nights and the beautiful glowing sunrises, or that pearly glimpse we get of the world just before dawn, when it all seems wrapped in mystery. I want you to become lovers of Nature, and you will never be quite lonely. Think of the joy of watching tiny leaflets and buds opening into beauty and watching and tending their growth. Think of the wonders along the river banks, where the wild ducks dip and glide and dive, and the dear little fluffy ducklings, with bright, beady eyes, fluttering about in the water, imitating their elders. Don’t you ever think what a grand thing it is to have your sight, just to see all the beauties around you?”
“Ye-es,” said Eileen, somewhat reluctantly; “it is all beautiful and wonderful.”
“Yes, it is so,” they all agreed.