14 Walks in New England 



then, O sparrow ! and hymn to us, talk of the 

 new greening meadows ; prophesy what is now 

 dim to us, scatter the snowdrifts to shadows ! 

 What are the crows in the field, or crying their 

 caws o er the forest, what does the chickadee 

 yield but his courage when need is the sorest, 

 what do such robins as live in the hemlocks de 

 spite of wild weather, what can all of these give 

 to compare with the sparrow s specked feather ? 

 Even the bluebird s bright carol is not so inspir 

 ing a presage as when the song-sparrow will dare 

 all the elements with his sweet message. Come 

 then, O sparrow ! and wing to the fence-post 

 and joyously hymn to us, quick will our spirits 

 then spring to the answer that now is so grim to 

 us. 



Pardon a trifle of rhapsody, for notwithstand 

 ing the forbidding storms, we have felt the breath 

 of spring, at odd times, on rare days, with dis 

 couragements and miseries between, but still there 

 are the growing trees and shrubs which swell 

 their buds of leaf and bloom, giving evidence that 

 Nature s great processes are steadily advancing. 

 This is after the vernal equinox, which sets a 

 milestone against the boundary of a strenuous 

 and sturdy winter of the most old-fashioned type. 

 Not since the winter of 1842-3 has there been 

 so long a season of snow. Very nearly all sorts 



