XII. 



APRIL. 



THERE are pleasurable emotions awakened by the re 

 turn of spring, unfelt at any other season of the year, 

 and resembling those we might be supposed to experi 

 ence upon a renewal of our youth. We certainly feel 

 younger and more hopeful at this season than in the 

 autumn ; and we look back upon the lapse of the three 

 winter months, with a less realizing sense of the loss of 

 so much of our allotted period of life, than upon the 

 lapse of the three summer months. The flight of either 

 season carries us equally onward in our mortal progress ; 

 yet we cannot avoid the feeling that seems to convince 

 us that the lapse of winter is our gain, as the lapse of 

 summer was our loss. And surely of these two feel 

 ings, the one that deceives is better than the one that 

 utters the truth ; and though we are several months 

 older than we were in the autumn, we may thank 

 heaven for the delusion that makes us feel younger. 



The spring, which is the best season for action and 

 enjoyment, may be regarded as unfavorable to contem 

 plation. So many delightful objects are constantly, in 

 viting us to pleasure, that the mind is tempted to neg 

 lect its serious pursuits, and we feel too much exhilara- 



