IV 
APRIL 
1G we represent the winter of our northern climate 
by a rugged snow-clad mountain, and summer 
by a broad fertile plain, then the intermediate belt, 
the hilly and breezy uplands, will stand for spring, 
with March reaching well up into the region of the 
snows, and April lapping well down upon the green- 
ing fields and unloosened currents, not beyond the 
limits of winter’s sallying storms, but well within 
the vernal zone,— within the reach of the warm 
breath and subtle, quickening influences of the plain 
below. At its best, April is the tenderest of tender 
salads made crisp by ice or snow water. Its type 
is the first spear of grass. The senses — sight, 
hearing, smell — are as hungry for its delicate and 
almost spiritual tokens as the cattle are for the first 
bite of its fields. How it touches one and makes 
him both glad and sad! The voices of the arriving 
birds, the migrating fowls, the clouds of pigeons 
sweeping across the sky or filling the woods, the 
elfin horn of the first honey-bee venturing abroad 
in the middle of the day, the clear piping of the 
little frogs in the marshes at sundown, the camp- 
fire in the sugar-bush, the smoke seen afar rising 
