FEBRUARY'S whispered promise is ful- 

 filled, for spring has come at last. Ma- 

 ple buds are swelling; lilac leaves are preparing 

 to unfold; elms are decking themselves out in 

 delicate little red-brown tufts; strawberry vines 

 are feeling their way cautiously over the face of 

 the newly awakened earth ; tender green blades 

 are peeping up through last year's dry, brown 

 grasses; early shrubs are hastening toward the 

 time of blossoms, and tangled honeysuckle vines 

 are taking on the brownish tints that tell of 

 coursing sap and coming leaves. Now and then 

 we hear the droning of a solitary honey-bee; 

 again a tiny gnat hovers near, or an early moth 

 flutters by, and the atmosphere is filled with the 

 delicious fragrance of sun-warmed dead leaves, 

 and tender beginnings of vegetation. 



English sparrows are flying about with an air 

 of the greatest importance, carrying in their beaks 



[125] 



