FLORIDA DAYS.


shore, from a canoe which lies motionless in
mid-stream, they are strangely like a crowd of
sun-bonneted women, nodding and chattering,
and thrilling with low, soft laughter. When
each "bonnet" is decked with blossoms, the
creek seems carpeted with gold ,and green;
not a glint of the still, brown water below is
seen, and save for the continuous and murmur-
ing rustle, it would look like an expanse of
blossoming meadow which invites the tired feet.
 How dim and shadowy must be the aisles be-
tween these brave green stalks, that bear up the
wonderful groined and fretted roof of spread-
ing leaves. The midribs are the arches, and
here and there, through some narrow crack
or fluted opening, a single thread of light is
woven into the green stillness, and strikes a
sudden star from the water. Yet, like more
than one cathedral, life is outside of it and
around it, rather than in it. Gnats dance above
the leafy roof until all the quivering air glitters
with their delicate wings. "Flies, with wonderful
cuirasses of gold and green, in helmets with
sparks of purple fire, and wings of silver sheen