April and Early May 



flower and foliage became conspicuously 

 apparent — their significant beauty is al- 

 ways anticipated with renewed eagerness. 

 If one looks earthward — where these 

 days the pale sunshine lies with the brood- 

 ing tenderness of a bird upon its nest, 

 patiently awaiting the life about to 

 burst into being — he sees a multitude of 

 little green cornucopias that are pricking 

 their way upward with a vast deal of de- 

 termination, undaunted by the matted 

 mass of decaying leaves, failing to be 

 driven back even by the late snowfall. 

 These small objects are so closely ' ^ done- 

 up ' ' that they suggest young babies out for 

 their first airing. They have the air of 

 aggressive secrecy peculiar to prize-packets 

 — as if challenging one to guess their con- 

 tents. And unless our eyes are trained by 

 years of observation, we are indeed quite 

 unable to identify the different plants ; to 

 conjecture that this papery wrapping in- 

 folds the pale leaf and pure blossom of the 

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