UNFOLDING BUDS 



49 



Where is the artist who would lay his canvas beside 

 it as a talisman to memory alone ? With the begin- 

 ning of May the woods are full of color; there is a re- 

 flection of autumn in the tender foliage tints; there are 

 bursting buds and budding leaves that mist the hills 

 with pink and white ; others that mist the gray thicket 

 with yellow aureole ; the shad-tree blooms and the flow- 

 ering dog-woods hover like white entangled clouds in 

 the distant woods. 



Those winter buds which, we have seen for months 

 on the bare twigs are now unfolding in endless variety, 

 showing with what wondrous art the embryo leaves 

 and blossoms have been packed away in their warm 

 winter snuggeries. No two seem designed on 





the same plan or unfold in the same manner. 

 The linden leaves unfold in drooping conical 

 pendants, each sheltering the one below 

 it. The tulip-tree has 

 a beautiful method 

 peculiarly its own. 



