SPRING AT THE CAPITAL 155 



if so gentle a swell of greensward may be said to 

 have a summit, is covered with a grove of large 

 oaks; and, sweeping back out of sight like a man- 

 tle, the front line of a thick forest bounds the sides. 

 This emerald landscape is seen from a number of 

 points in the city. Looking along New York 

 Avenue from Northern Liberty Market, the eye 

 glances, as it were, from the red clay of the street, 

 and alights upon this fresh scene in the distance. 

 It is a standing invitation to the citizen to come 

 forth and be refreshed. As I turn from some hot, 

 hard street, how inviting it looks! I bathe my 

 eyes in it as in a fountain. Sometimes troops of 

 cattle are seen grazing upon it. In June the gath- 

 ering of the hay may be witnessed. When the 

 ground is covered with snow, numerous stacks, or 

 clusters of stacks, are still left for the eye to con- 

 template. 



The woods which clothe the east side of this hill, 

 and sweep away to the east, are among the most 

 charming to be found in the District. The main 

 growth is oak and chestnut, with a thin sprinkling 

 of laurel, azalea, and dogwood. It is the only lo- 

 cality in which I have found the dogtooth violet 

 in bloom, and the best place I know of to gather 

 arbutus. On one slope the ground is covered with 

 moss, through which the arbutus trails its glories. 



Emerging from these woods toward the city, one 

 sees the white dome of the Capitol soaring over the 

 green swell of earth immediately in front, and lift- 

 ing its four thousand tons of iron gracefully and 



