MAPLE-SEED REVELS 5 



this dancing party of maple samaras on the snowy 

 lawn, for instance. Is this an exhibition of mere bo- 

 tanical germination, a simple seed that has sent out 

 its baby root into the soil, and in so doing has been 

 obliged to take this singular position ? Is it not as 

 truly an allegory of the universal rapture of nature 

 in this season of new birth and awakening which is 

 now at hand ? No ; these are not mere maple seeds 

 that have felt the quickening power of the south wind, 

 but a troop of happy children literally standing on their 

 heads in glee. What thoughts are brewing in those 

 heads, with their fur-lined caps? What deep plans for 

 a future maple grove out there upon the lawn ? 



Every spring their legions repeat these same express- 

 ive revels, and yet it is only as we chance to see them 

 relieved against a late March or April snow that we 

 ever know of their pretty antics here in the grass. 



