THE SPEING OF THE YEAE 



CHAPTER I 



SPUING ! SPRING I SPRING ! 



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"HO is your spring messenger ? Is it bird] 

 or flower or beast that brings your spring' 

 What sight or sound or smell spells^ 

 S-P-R-I-N-G to you, in big, joyous letters ? 



Perhaps it is the frogs. Certainly I could not have! 

 a real spring without the frogs. They have peepedj 

 |" Spring ! " to me ev- 

 jry time I have had a J 

 spring. Perhaps it is 

 the arbutus, or the 

 hepatica, or the pus- 

 sy - willow, or the 

 bluebird, or the yel- 

 ! jlow spice-bush, or, if 



/you chance to live in New England, perhaps it u 

 jthe wood pussy that brings your spring ! 



Beast, bird, or flower, whatever it is, there comes a 

 May and a messenger and spring ! You know that! 

 spring is here. It may snow again before night: noj 

 matter; your messenger has brought you the news, 

 brought you the very spring itself, and after 



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