WOODLAND PATHS 



It will not be long now before these 

 favored ones will begin to shake the yel- 

 low pollen from their curls. Already they 

 are giving the hint of it. A little way 

 upstream, however, was a far more potent 

 reminder of the coming season. I caught 

 a whiff of its fragrance and smiled before 

 I saw it. 



I wonder why we always smile at this 

 most beautiful spring flower, for it was 

 a spring blossom, the very first of the 

 season, which was growing in the soft 

 green of the brookside grass, its yellow 

 head all swathed in a maroon and green, 

 striped and flecked, pointed hood, lifted 

 bravely above the protecting herbage into 

 the nipping air. The flowering spadix I 

 could not see ; only the handsome, protect- 

 ing spathe which was wound about the 

 tender blooms to protect them from the 

 cold. When the sun is high in the sky 



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