74 ROUND THE YEAR 



to unroll their crumpled seed-leaves. The pink seeds 

 of the Elm are to be seen here and there, newly dis- 

 engaged from the winged fruits. 1 A few Birch-cones 

 lie about the roots of the trees from which they fell, 

 and some still hang on the bough. Some are still 

 full of winged fruits, but most are empty or nearly 

 so. The fruits of the Birch are scattered far and 

 wide over the fields. I found some which were 250 

 paces from the nearest Birch-tree, and there seems no 

 reason why they should not travel miles through the 

 air in a full gale of wind. 



My eyes are not so good as they were now, that I 

 am turned fifty, and it is a great help to have quick- 

 sighted boys as companions of my walks. Years ago 

 I trained my boys to observe the common sights of 

 the country, and now I reap the benefit as well as 

 they. The schoolmaster might heap up natural know- 

 ledge if he could learn to see with his boys' eyes as 

 well as his own, for the curious school-boy will work 

 over the country like a dog, putting his head into 

 every hole. But too often there is no one to share 

 the boys' little discoveries, no one to give the gentle 

 shove that is wanted at a sticking place. The school- 

 master is of course a learned man, perhaps a divine. 

 As he strolls along he is thinking of a new theory of 

 the Absolute, or of a method in Higher Algebra, or 

 of next Sunday's sermon, or of a disagreeable letter 

 that came by the morning's post. If the school- 

 master cannot stoop, or run, or climb, or tell the 

 notes of the birds, or mark the common flowers (and 



1 The seeds are those of the Witch Elm. The Common Elm 

 never seeds in Britain. 



