THINGS TO SEE THIS SPRING 



27 



II 



You must see the skunk-cabbage abloom in the 

 swamp. You need not pick it and carry it home for 

 the table just see it. But be sure you see it. Get 

 down and open the big purple-streaked spathe, as it 

 spears the cold mud, and 

 look at the "spadix" cov- 

 ered with its tiny but per- 

 fect flowers. Now wait a 

 minute. The woods are 

 still bare ; ice may still be 

 found on the northern 

 slopes, while 

 here before 

 you, like a 

 wedge split- 

 ting the fro- 

 zen soil, like a 

 spear cleaving 

 through the 

 earth from the 

 other, the sum- 

 mer, side of 

 the world, is 

 this broad blade of life letting up almost the first 

 cluster of the new spring's flowers. Wait a moment 

 longer and you may hear your first bumblebee, as 

 he comes humming at the door of the cabbage for 

 a taste of new honey and pollen. 



