FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 77 



it, and keep it properly moistened. It is 

 a thirsty little creature, but then it only 

 drinks the most harmless of beverages. 

 One of iny neighbours found a root of it 

 as late as Thanksgiving Day last year, and 

 put it into a tiny vase, which was lent to 

 me for a few days more than a month 

 ago, crowned with over fifty delicate blos 

 soms, just touched with a tint of the vernal 

 sky. 



A marvellous change has taken place in 

 the appearance of the fields and of the 

 trees and shrubs since the showers began. 

 On the sward Nature has been spreading 

 her green tints with a lavish hand, the 

 willows have hung out their golden plumes, 

 and are now putting on a green mantle, and 

 everywhere the buds have been swelling 

 and unfolding, so that the woods and shrub 

 beries have become more dense and richer in 

 colour. A writer in the &quot; London Spectator&quot; 

 has told very daintily the story of the com 

 ing of the buds and blossoms of trees as 

 they are seen in old England, and says that 

 to know them aright there, one must begin 

 to observe them from the first day of the 

 new year. And I remember that White of 

 Selborne finds some of the spring flowers 

 even in December. In our climate they are 



