of tbe 



compare, and all bathed in the clear springtide 

 light, that trembles with the melody of merry- 

 throated birds. 



But although all through April there was the 

 hum and buzz of activity, yet few comparatively 

 were the visible workers. The prying sunshine 

 found its way to the innermost nooks of every dark 

 ravine, and flooded with a pale shimmer the 

 thickets, even where the greenbrier was tangled 

 until almost a solid mass. There was everywhere 

 evidence of the progress of some mighty work, yet 

 had some forlorn mortal from a barren land 

 chanced upon the scene, he could not have told 

 you what was under way. To me it was an old 

 story that I have heard and seen played for many 

 a year, yet the novelty is as pronounced to-day as 

 when I first stood and wondered if the opening 

 buds heard the rejoicings that greeted sunrise when 

 the year was new. 



To be able, in age, to greet with the delight of 

 childhood the cycling of the seasons should be 

 sufficient to keep alive the spark of juvenility, even 

 when the years bear heavily upon us. Who would 

 willingly lapse into such a state as that which 

 prompted this outcry ? 



Tedious, when Winter roars athwart the main, 

 To see the same sad tracts of endless snow ; 



Tedious to see, when Spring returns again, 



The self-same hawthorn bush and cowslips blow. 



