THE ONRUSH OF SUMMER 



Oaks of Sway 



A short break in the spell of an extraordinarily 

 benign May would bring compensations. The 

 onrush of summer things is, perhaps, too great this 

 year. Cold or dark weather breaking such a spell 

 does help to spread out the bounty of the season. 

 As it is, gorse has hardly spent its prime before 

 broom is near the height. It seems scarcely longer 

 ago than yesterday that the oaks were the exact 

 colour of the wood spurge beneath them, the nearest 

 approach to pure yellow that a green ever can be. 

 One evening, indeed, I saw the oaks of Sway abso- 

 lutely yellow they were primrose in the fading 

 afternoon. To-day green yesterday spurge- 

 coloured or even primrose the day before, that 

 indescribable kindling hue which may be brown or 

 red ; it is over so quickly. May can be packed too 

 full. The great upstanding pyramids of horse- 

 chestnut bloom are fully out ; the purple lilac is 

 here before the white is failing ; the bees are in the 

 thick of the lovely green flowers of the sycamore ; 

 and the hawthorn is fast putting on its true bridal 

 dress, so heavily scented. What is over for June ? 



Queen of the Gold Comb 



After the old queen bee in May or later leaves 

 the hive, taking with her the swarm or cast, the 

 tragedy of the princesses, rivals for the throne of the 



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