WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



of golden mustard, and lower down creeps the 

 modest potentilla and yellow violet, hastening to 

 get through their duty of blossoming before the 

 vegetation shall smother them. Wild indigo and 

 the polished buttercup and the marsh-marigold, 

 beloved of the goldflies, with many another one, 

 both garner and reflect the hue of the blessed new 

 sunshine. 



Nevertheless, though otherwise the most energetic 

 of months. May breeds indolence in men. The 

 warm, languorous afternoons, damp with the odor- 

 ous emanations of a moist earth and the exhala- 

 tions of ever-increasing leaves, the debility of heat 

 unprepared for and the accumulated weariness of 

 busy months past, combine to depress our activity 

 and to make lassitude welcome. Hence May is 

 perhaps the most restful month for the man in 

 need and in search of refreshment — rest is then so 

 easily taken, so apt to his mood. The mind is 

 gratefully recreated as well as the body. The 

 delights of perfected spring appeal to the intellect 

 and imagination as well as to the senses; the joy 

 of ''seeing things grow," the daily, almost hourly 

 change to be noted as nature's brush rapidly and 

 deftly puts its finishing touches on the landscape 

 — all these are charming influences drawing tow- 



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