A SPRING RELISH 



crowd up around it ; the turf awakens all 

 about as if in the spirit of friendliness. See 

 the old barn on the meadow slope ; the 

 green seems to have oozed out from it, and 

 to have flowed slowly down the hill ; at a 

 little distance it is lost in the sere stubble. 

 One can see where every spring lies buried 

 about the fields ; its influence is felt at the 

 surface, and the turf is early quickened 

 there. Where the cattle have loved to lie 

 and ruminate in the warm summer twilight, 

 there the April sunshine loves to linger too, 

 till the sod thrills to new life. 



The home, the domestic feeling in nature, 

 is brought out and enhanced at this time ; 

 what man has done tells, especially what he 

 has done well. Our interest centres in the 

 farmhouses, and in the influence that seems 

 to radiate from there. The older the home, 

 the more genial nature looks about it. The 

 new architectural palace of the rich citizen, 

 with the barns and outbuildings concealed 

 or disguised as much as possible, — spring 

 is in no hurry about it ; the sweat of long 

 years of honest labor has not yet fattened 

 the soil it stands upon. 



The full charm of this April landscape is 

 not brought out till the afternoon. It seems 



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