IVitch Hazel Bloom 2 1 5 



&quot; Thus shall the royalty of Argos pass 

 In festal blaze to darkness.&quot; 



Through all this pomp of regal bloom insinuates 

 and permeates and controls the mysterious beauty 

 and enchantment of Nature s slumber charm, whose 

 very essence is the atttactive, elusive, withdrawing, 

 sacred scent of the witch hazel. This strange 

 bush, that flowers in the fall and fruits in the 

 spring, is as individual in its flower as in its habit, 

 and both so strange. Now the pale gold fringes 

 release themselves slowly from the close fitting 

 wraps that summer has wrought around the buds, 

 buds that afford no hint of the weird wraiths of 

 bloom they hold. Before yet their delicate petals 

 disentangle themselves, they bestow their mystic 

 fragrance on the forest depths. It is like a lov 

 ing benediction of God to the wanderer of the 

 woods, a tender farewell from the secret soul of 

 Nature. 



