Olive had plucked one of the ears of oats, and was shaking its little bells close to her friend's ear.
"It is nothing," said Gertie.
"To me it is lovely," replied Olive, "and the tinkle of the harebells is just as sweet."
Then a bee went buzzing by, and Olive liked to hear its drowsy hum, but Gertie did not notice it.
Presently they were on the edge of the cliffs, and could hear the splash of the waves as they rolled in and broke on the beach.
"Surely you like to hear 'the song of the sea,'" said Olive, but Gertie made no reply—she was thinking of something else.
Do not be like Gertie, who seemed as if she had "No Ears," but, like Olive, keep your ears open to all the sweet and pleasant sounds.
The fire makes a pleasant sound as it burns and crackles in the grate, and who does not like to hear the "singing" of the kettle on the hob? How musical is the flow of the stream, and do you not love to hear the splash of the oars as they dip in the river? or the sound made by the bow of the boat as it cuts through the water? Some people like to hear the "thud" of a great steamer as it ploughs its way through the sea, and everybody loves the sound of the wind as it whispers in the trees.
The sounds that we hear in the fields and woods are called "voices of nature," let us listen to them, for they speak to us of God's love.
(Blackboard.)
Listen to the Voices of Nature;
They Speak of God's Love.