NATURE AND THE POETS 



"We looked upon a world unknown, 

 On nothing we could call our own. 

 Around the glistening wonder bent 

 The blue walls of the firmament, 

 No cloud above, no earth below, 

 A universe of sky and snow!" 



In his little poem on the mayflower, Mr. Sted- 

 man catches and puts in a single line a feature of 

 our landscape in spring that I have never before 

 seen alluded to in poetry. I refer to the second 

 line of this stanza: 



"Fresh blows the breeze through hemlock-trees, 



The fields are edged with green below, 

 And naught but youth, and hope, and love 

 We know or care to know!" 



It is characteristic of our Northern and New 

 England fields that they are " edged with green " in 

 spring long before the emerald tint has entirely 

 overspread them. Along the fences, especially along 

 the stone walls, the grass starts early ; the land is 

 fatter there from the deeper snows and from other 

 causes, the fence absorbs the heat, and shelters the 

 ground from the winds, and the sward quickly 

 responds to the touch of the spring sun. 



Stedman's poem is worthy of his theme, and is 



the only one I recall by any of our well-known 



poets upon the much-loved mayflower or arbutus. 



There is a little poem upon this subject by an un- 



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