128 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



flanking the great Boston basin on its north ; 

 and the basin itself crowded with the tangled 

 streets and bristling chimneys of half a dozen 

 sister cities. The view on that morning was 

 interesting for a special reason ; it presented a 

 sudden change in the coloring of the whole face 

 of the laud. A few days earlier, grays, browns, 

 and delicate yellows had prevailed. These were 

 forgotten, swept away by a flood of green and 

 crimson. The green of the meadows, roadsides, 

 and upland hayfields was so vivid that all under- 

 lying tints were obliterated. The willows, 

 which for weeks had been the most conspicuous 

 color-spots in every view, had developed leaves 

 strong enough in color to cancel the golden and 

 coppery tones of their stems and merge them 

 in the greens of grassland and meadow. The 

 maples from gray and mist-like softness had with 

 their red blossoms come forward as the most pro- 

 nounced color-masses in the landscape. Around 

 Fresh Pond and in the maple swamps of the 

 Alewife Brook marshes this gorgeous crimson 

 coloring made the maples as conspicuous as in 

 autumn. The first few days in April the greater 

 part of Massachusetts was white with snow. 

 Such coloring as this, coming as a quick contrast 

 to winter tints, appeals most earnestly to the eye, 

 and leaves a deep impression on the memory. 

 It is one of the potent elements of spring, and 



