IV 



APRIL 



If we represent the winter of our northern 

 dimate by a rugged snow-clad mountain, 

 and summer by a broad fertile plain, then 

 the intermediate belt, the hilly and breezy 

 uplands, will stand for spring, with March 

 reaching well up into the region of the 

 snows, and April lapping well down upon 

 the greening fields and unloosened currents, 

 not beyond the limits of winter's sallying 

 storms, but well within the vernal zone, — 

 within the reach of the warm breath and 

 subtle, quickening influences of the plain 

 below. At its best, April is the tenderest 

 of tender salads made crisp by ice or snow 

 water. Its type is the first spear of grass. 

 The senses — sight, hearing, smell — are 

 as hungry for its delicate and almost spir- 

 itual tokens as the cattle are for the first 

 bite of its fields. How it touches one and 

 makes him both glad and sad ! The voices 

 of the arriving birds, the migrating fowls, 

 the clouds of pigeons sweeping across the 



67 



