/ID^ Mlnter (Barren 



Spring extends from the middle of Jan- 

 uary to an Indefinite point, which sometimes 

 touches June. Day after day the tem- 

 perature Is monotonously even ; night after 

 night a wonderful sky, profoundly deep 

 between Its stars, loops a dusky blend of 

 Milky Way and empyrean over the warm 

 sea and wavering Islands. All of the 

 most interesting plants, shrubs, vines, 

 trees in our Garden now rise to the high- 

 est achievement and spread abroad such 

 bewildering splendors of leaf, spike, bud, 

 flower, and painted stalk as only the 

 favored spots of earth ever yield. Rich 

 colors seem to imbue every natural object, 

 vegetable and animal ; even the snakes in 

 the grass, basking or gliding, betray their 

 kinship with the birds by a fine glow on 

 their variegated scales. Doubtless the 

 master serpent himself, who tempted the 

 mistress of Eden, is lurking somewhere in 

 my domain, a gorgeously pied skin of 

 fire-opals mailing his back, and a dazing 

 fascination in his eyes. But let him shine ; 

 I am not an ophiologlst. 



With spring arrive the crab, the floun- 

 26 



