MAPLE-SEED REVELS 5 



this dancing party of maple samaras on the snowy 

 lawn, for instance. Is this an exhibition of mere bo- 

 tanical germination, a simple seed that has sent out 

 its baby root into the soil, and in so doing has been 

 obliged to take this singular position? Is it not as 

 truly an allegory of the universal rapture of nature 

 in this season of new birth and awakening which is 

 now at hand ? No ; these are not mere maple seeds 

 that have felt the quickening power of the south wind, 

 but a troop of happy children literally standing on their 

 heads in glee. What thoughts are brewing in those 

 heads, with their fur-lined caps? What deep plans for 

 a future maple grove out there upon the lawn ? 



Every spring their legions repeat these same express- 

 ive revels, and yet it is only as we chance to see them 

 relieved against a late March or April snow that we 

 ever know of their pretty antics here in the grass. 



