noon
Never before had solitude in the breast of Nature had such appeal for him . He found growing interest in plants , flowers , insects , and birds . He wondered if they , too , suffered from grief and pain . At noon , when the day was warmest , he reclined on the mossy bank of a clear brook . He took off his shoes and bathed his feet in the cool , swift-running water , feeling the chill course through his veins . What was it that kept whispering within him that here and here alone was the balm for such wounds as his ? Contrasting the mystic quiet of his surroundings with the snarling jangle of the life he had led in town , a faint hope of eventual peace began to spring up within him .