And all, without exception, communicated their knowledge by the
movements, attitudes, and gestures they assumed; and since each stood
close to each, the enjoyment spread quickly till the entire lawn felt
one undivided sensation by itself. Anything passing across it at such
a moment, whether insect, bird, loose leaf or even human being, would
be aware of this, and thus, for a fleeting second, share another
world. Poets, it is said, have received their sweetest inspirations
upon a daisied lawn in the flush of spring. Nor is it always a sight
of prey that makes the swallows dart so suddenly sideways and away,
but some chance message of joy or warning intercepted from the hosts
of flowers in the soil.
And from this region of the flower-life comes, of course, the legend
that fairies have emotions that last for ever, with eternal youth, and
with loves that do not pass away to die. This, too, they understood.
Because the measurement of existence is a mightier business than with
over-developed humans-in-a-hurry. For knowledge comes chiefly through
the eye, and the eye can perceive only six times in a second--things
that happen more quickly or more slowly than six times a second are
invisible.
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