March 



where we are told that ' ' everlasting spring 

 abides, ' ' at least in any mundane interpretation 

 of the phrase. Our spirits are constitutionally 

 in harmony with nature's law of regular varia- 

 tion in our surroundings, and immutability and 

 monotony are closely associated in our minds. 

 However admirable in many ways the pines, 

 spruces, and cedars are, every one must feel, as 

 compared with the deciduous trees, how remote 

 they are from human S)mipathy, in an im- 

 mobility that suppresses all impulsiveness. The 

 several successive aspects of deciduous growth — 

 the bud and blossom, fruitage and decay — are 

 types of man's development that cannot fail to 

 win regard. That commonest of all weeds, the 

 dandelion — ' ' composite ' ' parable — in one short 

 month how it epitomizes the bounds of human 

 life — its glittering youth, and hoary - headed 

 age. 



Another advantage in the alternation of sea- 

 sons is, as one has expressed it, that " this 

 charming renewal every spring deceives us as 

 to ourselves. We think ourselves every year as 

 the oak which is in leaf, and set out again with 

 it. ' ' As glad as the child is to grow old, so 

 eager are the old to be young again. 



Although an occasional balmy day turns our 



73 



