2 THE COMING OF SPRING 



It was his favorite saying, his apology for any 

 halt in the progress of things, that had given him 

 the name of "Time o' Year," by which alone I 

 first knew him a name also in full accord with 

 his cheerful temper and his loyalty to outdoor life. 



"The river 's a leetle overcrowded beyond the 

 glen, but none too full for the time o' year. Trout 's 

 few as yet, and what 's come down 's too skart and 

 dazed with the flood to see a fly, but that 's what 

 I allus reckon on, this time o'year!" 



If, however, you spoke of the nesting place of a 

 shy bird or the haunt of some elusive flower, his 

 attitude would instantly change and he would subtly 

 begin to sift your motives. No rustic gossip he, 

 to tattle of woodland doings to the merely curious. 

 If he deemed his questioner a collector, seeking to 

 despoil the woods of flower and feather either for 

 gain or private hoarding, that person's fate was 

 sealed. Should a botanist appear, provided with 

 microscope and vasculum, his contempt was hardly 

 less deep, and he would reveal the location of noth- 

 ing rarer than a field of Buttercups, perhaps, feign- 

 ing ignorance of plant lore, yet muttering to him- 

 self: "Schoolma'ams! I know 'em! poking their 

 fingers into posies' mouths to feel their teeth, and 

 splittin' 'em open to count their ribs! Then like 



