NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



again. One after another had striven in vain to 

 win a way through the barriers which encircled the 

 place of her sleeping ; but at length the Prince 

 and Master came, to whom all was easy the sun- 

 shine of the first spring day. And as he kissed the 

 Beauty, all the buglers blew, both high and low, 

 the cawing rooks on the trees, and the croaking 

 frogs by the pond, each according to his strength 

 and skill. All through the palace there was re- 

 awakening : of the men-at-arms we call them 

 bears and hedgehogs ; of the night-watchmen, 

 known to us as bats ; not to speak of the carpet- 

 sweepers, like the dormice and hamsters all were 

 reawakened. The messengers went swiftly forth : 

 the dragon-flies like living flashes of light ; the 

 bustling humble-bees, stopping to refresh them- 

 selves at the willow catkins by the way ; the moths 

 flying softly by night on secret service. How 

 accurate the old stories are : " The scullery-boy 

 got a long-delayed box on the ear when the cook 

 awoke " ; the wood-snail drew in his horns as the 

 thrush swept swiftly by. 



These spring days are the days of youth of 

 seedlings, buds, and fresh blossom, of tadpoles, 

 nestlings, and lambkins : of which, as of children, 

 there are two thoughts which we cannot help 

 thinking. 



The first is a thought of Easter, of the forgiveness 

 of Nature, of its power of making a fresh start. 

 In autumn we saw the vine robbed of all its leaves 

 transfigured in their dying and hard-bound by 

 the frost ; but now the tender vines put forth a 



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