April and Early May 



Here, indeed, lies the secret of the charm. 

 He needs no listener to make his rhap- 

 sodies satisfying. Every walk abroad 

 is companioned. He rides a hobby which 

 carries him quite as satisfactorily as far 

 more expensive steeds. Less unattainable 

 than a hunter or an indefinite number of 

 polo-ponies, equally it keeps him out of 

 doors, yields him infinite excitement, 

 at times bears him into actual danger, 

 for many a botanist has taken his life 

 into his hands in his search for a coveted 

 specimen. One case of a life's being lost 

 for a flower has come within my personal 

 knowledge. While as a cure for a cer- 

 tain sort of nervousness, I know nothing 

 better than a taste for field botany. A 

 marshy, deep-grown meadow once meant 

 to me only a place to be avoided at all 

 costs, a possible, nay a probable, harbor- 

 age for the kind of snakes only familiar to 

 me from visits to the Central Park me- 

 nagerie, the London Zoo, and closely ensu- 

 17 



