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 ¬that I scarcely knew how to deal with it, being perfectly aware, from every thing around me, that it must be Midsummer in Armata : I could therefore only say, that I was unac- quainted with the natural history of her produc- tions, but that all creation seemed to be in the highest perfection ; " and do those fine trees, then," I asked, " preserve their beauty through- out the year, or are they leafless in winter which, as I have learned from your father, is often most severe?" He here laughed, and muttered some- thing in his own language, which when I afterwards understood, I could not help laugh- ing also — translated literally into English, it sig- nified, Damn all trees, shrubs, and flowers! and then, resuming our English language, which he always spoke to me, he said, " The trees and shrubs are of course without leaves or flowers in winter, and are in their prime now ; — but what then ? Can they converse ? Can they dance? Can they sing? If you poured wine upon them instead of water would they live ? — or can they move from their places and hunt ? ¬Would ¬