MAY. 243 



The tender mercies of the month of flowers. 



The early birds are Avedded to their mates : 



And every hill and wood reverberates 



With their melodious chirping, and the swell 



Of their full song resounds from vale and dell. 



For Echo, joyful at the sound, has lent 



Her myriad choir to spread their merriment, 



And given to every rock and hill a voice, 



To join the tuneful millions, and rejoice. 



The piping frogs are vocal in the pool ; 



And when the evening hour is still and cool, 



Glad hosts of merry croakers wake their glee. 



And fill the air with wild garrulity. 



Silence has fled with winter, and among 



Groves, hills and plains, no harp remains unstrung. 



During the space of one year, the woods present to the eye 

 of the spectator five different aspects, corresponding with the 

 infancy, the youth, the maturity, the tinting and the dropp'.ng 

 of the foliage. The first is the appearance assumed by the 

 woods, when putting out their tender plaited leaves and blos- 

 soms in May, up to the time when they are fully expanded ; 

 the second when nearly all the trees have attained their 

 brightest verdure, as in June, but exhibit a nearly uniform 

 shade : the third in midsummer and later, when their verdure 

 is less brilliant, and when each species and individual have 

 acquired that particular shade of green that respectively char- 

 acterizes them : the fourth is the appearance they assume 

 when the leaves have acquired those variegated tints that 

 precede their fall, and which are erroneously attributed to the 

 action of frost ; the fifth and last is the naked appearance of 

 the winter forest, when the evergreens alone retain their ver- 

 dure. These ever-changing aspects of the woods are sources 

 of continual pleasure to the observer of nature, and have in 

 all ages afforded themes for the poet, and subjects for the 

 painter. 



Of all these phases, the one that is presented to the eye in 

 the month of May is by far the most delightful, on account of 

 the infinite variety of tints and shades in the budding and 

 expanding leaves and blossoms, and the poetic relations of 

 their appearance at this time to one of the most agreeable 



