The Marvelous Beauty of Spring 81 



The Marvelous Beauty of the Spring 



THE singular character of the season has 

 given to the landscape certain unwonted 

 charms, which have been felt even by 

 those unused to close observance of the ways of 

 Nature. Everything has put on an original char 

 acter, from the start out of winter until now that 

 we are on the verge of summer, and yet we linger 

 without remonstrance, for the earth is too beautiful 

 to wish it otherwise. Flowers and leaves, grasses 

 and sedges, the herbs, the shrubs, the vines, the 

 trees, and with them the birds and bees, butter 

 flies and beetles, all came swiftly in advance of 

 their customary dates, and it seemed that the glory 

 of the earth was about to rush in upon us like a 

 flood. But then came the conservative delay. 

 We had barely one or two summery days, just 

 enough to give a fillip to the ambitions of the 

 things that grow and bloom and fly and sing, 

 and Nature has gone on in her gentle deliberation 

 with merely warm days and constantly cool nights, 

 and thus the exquisite delicacy of spring has been 



