A SYLVAN EASTER 



fi 



HALL flowers come first, or leaves? 

 The red maple said flowers; the lo- 

 cust, leaves ; while the beech suggested 

 both. 



The trees reviewed their wardrobes 

 of velvet or varnished buds, where spring 

 clothes had been packed away ever since 

 last year, ready for the time when they wake 

 from their winter sleep and have to get dressed 

 in a hurry. None but a magician or Mother 

 Nature could ever shake a flower-robe or leaf- 

 frock from such tiny bundles, though mate- 

 rial is tucked away in cell cubby-holes to help 

 out in the springtime dress. 



While the trees were whispering together, 

 three girls met out of doors. 



^^See the red buds beading the silver maple," 

 said Portia, the gray-eyed girl. '^Soon all the 



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