74 A GARDEN OF PLEASURE 



betrays the cherished secret of her treasure. 

 Yet it must be confessed that when the air 

 is less chilly the hour is often fuller of mur- 

 muring stir among the birds and bees than 

 it is to-day. 



' The small bees busy at their threshold old, 

 And lambs lamenting in their four-fold fold. 



Cold as it is, there is one tall white Iris just 

 one among a thousand budding now in 

 double file throughout the garden care- 

 fully, slowly opening. It rises above all the 

 other irises first and fairest, as the first of 

 every flower is and to-morrow it will be 

 full-blown, in honour of the day. The eve 

 of May-Day should be full of mysteries in 

 earth and air. A great change is approach- 

 ing, and all Nature knows it. I myself but 

 dimly guess and feel what it may be. It may 

 be that the birth of summer is at hand, and 

 already a few of Nature's loveliest children 

 * haste to die.' Snowdrops are forgotten, 

 and primrose-tide is fading from the woods. 

 Under the yellow Berberis yellow petals 

 lie in little heaps or lines of yellow drift : 

 and every pearly bud on the white cherry 

 trees has opened wide. There is no wind, 



