AN ARCADIAN CALENDAR 



SOME of the older writers declare that the skylark sings 

 by the book in spite of what the poet says 

 The Lark's of his unpremeditated art. Opening with a 

 Song prelude, vivace crescendo, this carries the 



soarer to his airy watch-tower. Impatience 

 during the ascent is the ruling idea. Then the song 

 becomes moderate, broken into short phrases, each 

 repeated several times, making a fantasia. While 

 hovering, head to wind, the ardour gives way to a self- 

 satisfied calm. And as the singer comes down, so, by 

 gradations, his melody sinks. Some say they have made 

 out that the number of the notes accords exactly with 

 the beating of the wings. 



THE LANE TO SPRING 



SNOWDROPS, always so well loved in old English gar- 

 dens, have been pushing up their pendent 

 February's blooms these three weeks past in Devon 

 Fair gardens, to be ready to greet Candlemas. 



Maids The flower that must often arise through 

 snow gains much by cultivating the head- 

 hanging habit ; it sheds moisture easily, and can set its 

 seeds regardless of February's efforts to fill dykes. The 

 old English snowdrop, never more attractive than when 

 naturalized in grass (except, perhaps, when growing 

 wild in the woods) holds its own against new 

 varieties, the so-called yellow snowdrops, with their 

 rich yellow ovaries and yellow markings of the 

 inner petals, or the green sorts, with green on the 

 outer petals. 



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