face indicate to those who understand the spirit of Nature, and
her utterances in the face of the world, the nature of the place
of his birth, and the other circumstances thereof; whether a
clear morning sun guided his mother to the nook whence issued the
boy's low cry; or at eve the lonely maiden (for the same woman
never finds a second, at least while the first lives) discovers
the girl by the glimmer of her white skin, lying in a nest like
that of the lark, amid long encircling grasses, and the
upward-gazing eyes of the lowly daisies; whether the storm bowed
the forest trees around, or the still frost fixed in silence the
else flowing and babbling stream.

After they grow up, the men and women are but little together.
There is this peculiar difference between them, which likewise
distinguishes the women from those of the earth. The men alone
have arms; the women have only wings. Resplendent wings are
they, wherein they can shroud themselves from head to foot in a
panoply of glistering glory. By these wings alone, it may
frequently be judged in what seasons, and under what aspects,
they were born. From those that came in winter, go great white
wings, white as snow; the edge of every feather shining like the
sheen of silver, so that they flash and glitter like frost in the
sun. But underneath, they are tinged with a faint pink or rose-
colour. Those born in spring have wings of a brilliant green,
green as grass; and towards the edges the feathers are enamelled
like the surface of the grass-blades. These again are white
within. Those that are born in summer have wings of a deep
rose-colour, lined with pale gold. And those born in autumn have
purple wings, with a rich brown on the inside. But these colours
are modified and altered in all varieties, corresponding to the