The Country Month by Month. 

 MARCH. 



AS we can still gather from the numerical names of the 

 last four months in our calendar, the ancient Roman 

 year began with March, and there is much to be said in 

 favour of this old arrangement. In towns or suburbs we 

 may only have noticed that the rains of February have 

 washed some of the soot from the bark of our trees, and 

 that, now all continuous frost is over, the ground is soft 

 and moist ; but in the country there is a general feeling of 

 renewed life. It is not that a few evergreens or brightly- 

 coloured fruits console us with the thought that as winter 

 was preceded by summer so also will summer come again : 

 it is not that the chill-looking snowdrops, those "fair 

 maids of February," peep through snow or dead leaves ; 

 but, as Miss Rossetti says 



" Life's alive in everything." 



The boughs still look bare as they sway in the brisk wind; 

 but this very swaying may assist in pumping up the sap in 

 the stem; and the buds, though still covered with their 

 brown winter scales, are swelling to the bursting. March 

 winds may be keen ; but they seem to make the blood flow 

 more swiftly in our veins. We no longer feel the dank 



