APRIL. 203 



flower, while engaged in sipping sweets from the nectaries, 

 mixes the pollen upon the stigma, by the motions of his 

 delicate feet and wings ; or, as in the case of the dioecious 

 plants, bears it upon his downy wings and thighs, to the 

 distant blossom that requires its fertilizing properties. 



Children, who are unaffected lovers of flowers, have always 

 shown a preference for those of early spring, when they are 

 more attractive on account of their novelty, and seem more 

 beautiful as the harbingers of a warmer season. Tt is at this 

 time that we most fully realize the influence of the alterna- 

 tions of the seasons, in promoting our happiness. The phi- 

 losophers of nature long since discovered that winter is 

 necessary as a period of repose for certain vegetable tribes, 

 that without it would perish or become unproductive. But 

 this beneficent change is equally necessary to promote the 

 vigor of all our susceptibilities for enjoyment ; and winter, 

 while it shuts us out from very many healthful pleasures, is 

 a period during which our moral feelings and imagination 

 acquire new sensibilities. It is apparent that to this influence 

 may be attributed the greater pleasure we derive from the 

 sight of the early spring flowers. After the earth has re- 

 mained bleak and desolate for half the year, every beautiful 

 thing in nature has a renewed charm, when it reappears ; and 

 a single violet by the wayside inspires a little child with more 

 delight than he feels when surrounded by a whole garden of 

 blossoms in the month of July. 



Parties of young children are annually called out by the 

 first warm sunshine to hunt for the early flowers of April. 

 The botanist is also already out among the birds and children, 

 peeping into green dells under the shelving rocks, or in sunny 

 nooks brushing away the dry oak leaves, to find the early 

 anemone or the fragrant ground laurel, (Epigas^a repensj, dip- 

 ping his hand into clear streams for confervas and water- 

 cresses, or examining the drooping bunches of the andromeda 

 for its rows of pearly gems. He thinks not meanly of his 

 pursuit though he finds for his companions the village children 

 and the poor herb woman who is employed in gathering 

 salads for the market. From her lips he may obtain some 



