In Lilac Tide 143 



bending over the flower borders, let us linger awhile 

 in the wonderful old Lilac walk. It is a glory of 

 tender green and shaded amethyst and grateful hum 

 of bees, the very voice of Spring. Every sense is 

 gratified, even that of touch, when the delicate plumes 

 of the fragrant Lilac blossoms brush your cheek as 

 you walk through its path; there is no spot of fairer 

 loveliness than this Lilac walk in May. It is a won- 

 derful study of flickering light and grateful shade in 

 midsummer. Look at its full-leaf charms opposite 

 page 138; was there ever anything lovelier in any gar- 

 den, at any time, than the green vista of this Lilac walk 

 in July ? But for the thoughtful garden-lover it has 

 another beauty still, the delicacy and refinement of 

 outline when the Lilac walk is bare of foliage, as is 

 shown on page 220 and facing page 154. The very 

 spirit of the Lilacs seems visible, etched with a purity 

 of touch that makes them sentient, speaking beings, 

 instead of silent plants. See the outlines of stem and 

 branch against the tender sky of this April noon. 

 Do you care for color when you have such beauty of 

 outline ? Surely this Lilac walk is loveliest in April, 

 with a sensitive etherealization beyond compare. 

 How wonderfully these pictures have caught the 

 look of tentative spring — spring waiting for a single 

 day to burst into living green. There is an ancient 

 Saxon name for springtime — Opyn-tide — thus 

 defined by an old writer, " Whenne that flowres 

 think on blowen " — when the flowers begin to 

 think of budding and blowing; and so I name this 

 picture Opyn-tide, the Thought of Spring. 



For many years Lilacs were planted for hedges ; 



