Night in Early Spring. 193 



an inimitable roof, whose lattice-windows are set with 

 translucent lapis lazuli, for the deep blue of the sky 

 seems to come down and rest upon it. The acorns 

 are already there, as yet all cup, and little of the 

 acorn proper showing ; there is a tiny black speck on 

 the top, and the young acorn faintly resembles some 

 of the ancient cups with covers, the black speck being 

 the knob by which the cover is lifted. After the first 

 frosts, when the acorns are browned and come out of 

 their cups from their own weight as they fall and 

 strike the ground, the lads select the darkest or 

 ripest, and eat one now and then ; they half-roast 

 them, too, like chestnuts. 



In the early spring, when the night is bright and 

 clear, it is a place to stand a moment and muse 

 awhile. For the copse is dark and gloomy, the 

 bare oaks are dark behind ; the eye cannot see 

 across the prairie, whose breadth is doubled by the 

 night. But yonder lies a great gray sarsen boulder, 

 like an uncouth beast of ancient days crouching in 

 the hollow. Hush ! there was a slight rustling in 

 the grass there, as of a frightened thing ; it was 

 a startled hare hastening away. The brightest con- 

 stellations of our latitude pour down their rays and 

 influence on the birth of bud and leaf in spring ; 

 and at no other season is the sky so gorgeous with 

 stars. 



The grass in the meadow or home-field as it begins 

 to grow tall in spring is soon visited by the corn- 

 crakes, who take up their residence there. In this 

 district (though called the corncrake) these birds 

 seem to frequent the mowing-grass more than the 

 arable fields, and they generally arrive about the 

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