1.58 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917 



and — sh-h ! in less than no time the sleepy babies will feel the touch 

 of your artificial Spring and begin to stretch their sleepy arms. 

 Out they come, farther every day, at a surprising rate, until 

 suddenly some morning you will find them at full length, with a 

 beauty in every hand. Presto ! Spring is here, though the robins 

 are still looking for worms in Baltimore and the bluebird has yet to 

 sing as he flies along our fence posts. 



After the petals have fallen the downy leaves will appear, and 

 as the real Spring arrives you can set the plants in some friendly 

 corner and they will bloom again next year, none the worse for the 

 trip away from home so early in their infancy. 



An April Stanza from "Spring Rivulet' ' 



From Wind and Weather by L. H. Bailey 



Through the pastures high 



Now free of their snows 



On gray matted sod 



The rivulet grows, — 



Dips under a root 



Falls over a stone 



Slips under a bank 



With a muffled tone, 



Shines out in the sun 



Then sweeps round a knoll 



And spreads clear and still 



In a weed-edged bowl. 



It drains the mud slews 



In the fields of wheat 



And lays down the silt 



Where the currents meet. 



Bubble and bubble tumbles the foam, 



Grasses and twigs will find a new home. 



Oh robin, my robin, you are with me again: 



The sap's in the maple and the wood-twigs are bright, 



The fence-rows are waking and afield are the men, 



The March-winds are roaming and the willows are white. 



