A SUBURBAN RAMBLE 23 



name* The Hepaticas come out as if they had 

 enjoyed the winter* Their characteristic leaves are 

 full of vitality, although their stems may droop* And 

 in the centre among the stems the rising woolly 

 bunches are reaching up, preparing to unfold the 

 delicate flowers already impatient for the early sun* 

 The Trailing Arbutus is still more eager, though 

 advancing more quietly under the dead Oak leaves* 

 Where an occasional leaf shows only a hard vitality, a 

 careful search close to the moist ground will disclose 

 flowers already open, showing delicate white and 

 pink and enriching the air with perfume* 



Rich red patches on the Silver Birch show where 

 vandals have robbed the trees of their beauty* The 

 sublime egotism of the human name, at which the 

 greatest of all egotists in modern literature marvelled, 

 is seen in the initial letters with which the bark is 

 defaced* More stirring to the fancy is a cabalistic 

 design cut with care and regularity in the white bark* 

 It is not the insignia of any secret order, inscribed in 

 the enthusiastic faith of a neophyte* There is no 

 clue to the intent or purpose of the strange marks* 

 They are hidden away in the loneliest spot, in 

 contrast with the conspicuously displayed initials. 

 Fancy and speculation are dampened by the multi- 

 plicity of influences that prompt humanity to action* 

 In the nibbled bark of a broken limb we see where the 

 Field Mice, driven from home by the recent floods, 



