WOODLAND PATHS 



rare that you find them doing things out 

 of the usual routine.. Warm skies and 

 south winds may tease them long before 

 they will respond by blooming earlier than 

 their wonted date. They know the ways 

 of the world well and realize how unwise 

 it is for proper young people to overstep 

 the bounds of strict conventionality. On 

 the other hand, the hepaticas, with all 

 their innocence, perhaps because of it, 

 care little for the conventions. Indeed, 

 I doubt if they know there are such 

 things, or if they have heard of them 

 would recognize them. It is likely that 

 in some sunny, sheltered nook some rash 

 youngster, all clad in furs of pearl gray, 

 is in bloom now, though so shy and so 

 hidden that I was unable to find the hint 

 of color. I have known them to half -open 

 those lavender-blue eyes under the pro- 

 tecting crust of winter snow. 

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