24 THE COMING OF SPRING 



Ah, for the chance to sit wide-eyed in that mar- 

 ket place and watch the procession enter! To-day 

 come the heralds and outriders and the heart beats 

 high with expectancy, yet, plan as one may, one's 

 dealings with the god Outdoors are always uncer- 

 tain. In this itself lies no small fascination. 



To-day we have met Spring as she timidly enters 

 by the valleys. If a few weeks pass before Nell 

 and I can return to Time o' Year's woods, Spring 

 will have shown herself bravely on the hilltops and 

 be waving her green banners from every nook that 

 holds a thimbleful of soil from which she can raise 

 her standard of fertility; for every ambitious rock- 

 cleft manages to hold a leaf or two in middle May. 



That is the time when the early and the late 

 flowers meet each other and salute, one advancing, 

 the other retreating, through the company of con- 

 servative intermediates. Then while we must 

 search carefully in moist woods for Dwarf Ginseng, 

 Trientalis, Baneberry, Sarsaparilla, Wintergreen, Me- 

 deola and Mitrewort, other flowers are warming the 

 soft green of the open landscape with splashes of 

 color. 



Then it is that the Columbine begins its reign 

 of fire among the granite rocks of old hillside pas- 

 tures, and the gorgeous Painted Cup carries the 



