A SPRING RELISH. 195 



Another pleasant feature of spring, which I have 

 not mentioned, is the full streams. Riding across 

 the country one bright day in March, I saw and felt, 

 as if for the first time, what an addition to the satis- 

 faction one has in the open air at this season is the 

 clear, full water-courses. They come to the front, as 

 it were, and lure and hold the eye. There are no 

 weeds, or grasses, or foliage to hide them ; they are 

 full to the brim, and fuller ; they catch and reflect 

 the sunbeams, and are about the only objects of life 

 and motion in nature. The trees stand so still, the 

 fields are so hushed and naked, the mountains so ex- 

 posed and rigid, that the eye falls upon the blue, 

 sparkling, undulating water-courses with a peculiar 

 satisfaction. By and by the grass and trees will be 

 waving, and the streams will be shrunken and hid- 

 den, and our delight will not be in them. The still 

 ponds and lakelets will then please us more. 



The little brown brooks, how swift and full they 

 ran ! One fancied something gleeful and hilarious in 

 them. And the large creeks, how steadily they 

 rolled on, trailing their ample skirts along the edges 

 of the fields and marshes, and leaving ragged patches 

 of water here and there ! Many a gentle slope 

 spread, as it were, a turfy apron in which reposed a 

 little pool or lakelet. Many a stream sent little de- 

 tachments across lots, the sparkling water seeming to 

 trip lightly over the unbroken turf. Here and there 

 an oak or an elm stood knee-deep in a clear pool, as 

 if rising from its bath. It gives one a fresh, genial 



