30 A GARDEN OF PLEASURE 



scarce begun to show in silvery points above 

 the earth to-day the slender stalks have 

 risen two inches high ! There are pure 

 white double primroses and a few coloured, 

 in every part of the garden, where so late 

 as yesterday there seemed to be none. 

 Even the yellow of a winter aconite, or 

 the blue of scyllas, begin to show here 

 and there. I do not know if the sap does 

 actually rise at the touch of spring, but 

 there has come a fresher green in the 

 broad blue-green iris leaves, and the ends 

 of the long rose sprays are flushed with 

 emerald, and a warmer green glows through 

 the prickly junipers. This first awaken- 

 ing comes rather later than usual. Though 

 the season has been so mild, it was un- 

 usually dark, and in my garden diary for 

 December I find fifteen days marked * very 

 dark.' In January there were indeed days 

 when we beheld the sun, but it has been 

 mostly a reign of darkness, and earth's 

 stars, which are the flowers, are few. 



These Snowdrops! year after year they 

 come again to test our appreciation of form 

 and simplicity, and every year their 



