20 THE COMING OF SPRING 



left a sign and given us the freedom of his coun- 

 try. Do you know what that means for us, Nell, 

 this coming to find the flowers in their homes? 



"It means days in wood and meadow, by river 

 and wayside, from the sea gardens up through Lone- 

 town to the glen. It means sunburn and thunder 

 showers, freckles, brier scratches, nettle stings and 

 mosquito bites, but oh, such deep sleep in the 

 nights that follow those days! And, Nell, we must 

 come often now; we must visit these unspoiled 

 places week by week while yet we may, for only 

 here can we find the natural haunts of things. Be- 

 fore axe, plow and quarry drill drive us out we 

 will, instead of plucking and uprooting, make pic- 

 tures of all this loveliness wind and weather aid- 

 ing," I added humbly, for the image of a swallow 

 on the wing is not more impossible to capture than 

 that of a pendulous flower when the wind is abroad. 



Nell only whinnied and sniffed the breeze, yet 

 surely the most intelligent sympathy is that which 

 does not divert one's thoughts or jar a happy mood; 

 so we turned in our tracks and began our zigzag 

 return through the south meadows to the high- 

 way. 



Presently the brush grew thinner and the sun 

 filtered steadily through it. A startled whippoor- 



