In Lilac Tide 155 



ing the young Dandelion plants to add to their 

 meagre fare as a greatly-loved delicacy. They collect 

 these "greens" in highlv-colored kerchiefs, in bas- 

 kets, in squares of sheeting; I have seen the women 

 bearing off a half-bushel of plants ; even their stumpy 

 little children are impressed to increase the welcome 

 harvest, and with a broken knife dig eagerly in the 

 greensward. The thrifty park commissioners, in Dan- 

 delion-time, relax their rigid rules, " Keep Off the 

 Grass," and turn the salad-loving Italians loose to im- 

 prove the public lawns by freeing them from weeds. 



The earliest sign of spring in the fields and 

 woods in my childhood was the appearance of the 

 Willow catkins, and was heralded by the cry of one 

 child to another, — " Pussy-willows are out." How 

 eagerly did those who loved the woods and fields 

 turn, after the storm, whiteness, and chill of a New 

 England winter, to Pussy-willows as a promise of 

 summer and sunshine. Some of their charm ever 

 lingers to us as we see them in the baskets of swarthy 

 street venders in New York. 



Magnolia blossoms are sold in our city streets 

 to remind city dwellers of spring. " Every flower 

 its own bow-kwet," is the call of the vender. 

 Bunches of Locust blossoms follow, awkwardly tied 

 together. Though the Magnolia is earlier, I do 

 not find it much more splendid as a flowering tree 

 for the garden than our northern Dogwood ; and 

 the Dogwood when in bloom seems just as tropi- 

 cal. It is then the glory of the landscape; and its 

 radiant starry blossoms turn into ideal beauty even 

 our sombre cemeteries. 



