THE SPEING OF THE YEAE 



CHAPTER 



" SPRING ! SPRING^! 



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W~"HO is your spring messenger ? Is it bird 

 or flower or beast that brings your spring? 

 What sight or sound or smell spells 

 S-P-R-I-N-G to you, in big, joyous letters ? 



Perhaps it is the frogs. Certainly I could not have 

 a real spring without the frogs. They have peeped 

 u Spring! " to me ev- 

 ery time I have had a 

 spring. Perhaps it is 

 the arbutus, or the 

 hepatica, or the pus- 

 sy - willow, or the 

 bluebird, or the yel- 

 low spice-bush, or, if 

 you chance to live in New England, perhaps it is 

 the wood pussy that brings your spring ! 



Beast, bird, or flower, whatever it is, there comes a 

 day and a messenger and spring ! You know that 

 spring is here. It may snow again before night : no 

 matter; your messenger has brought you the news, 

 brought you the very spring itself, and after all 



