ACCORDING TO SEASON 



The flower shrub ventures forth, "a crimson star, first dimly 

 oftbeha { ei detected in the twilight/' a star of the dawning 

 rather than of the evening. Often I find at this 

 Liverwort same time the first faint-hued flowers of the liver- 

 tus f l wort and the early blossoms of the arbutus. 



A dull-looking, uninteresting little plant, but 

 one we ought to value because of the hardy per- 

 sistence with which its silky leaves and yellowish 

 flowers lighten the hill-sides when otherwise they 

 are almost bare, is the plantain-leaved, or, as I 

 Early ever- have named it more to my satisfaction, the early 

 as mg everlasting. 



The record of these first weeks of spring is not 

 a full one. It seems to me that March and April, 

 far more than May, love to 



" — haggle with their greens an' things." 



But Hosea Biglow is right in liking our " back'ard 

 springs." They whet our appetite amazingly. 

 The joy of realization is doubled by that of antici- 

 pation. I doubt whether the wealth of song and 

 of blossom which delights us in June is worth 

 more to us than the rare, suggestive notes that 

 strike answering chords direct from our hearts, 

 and the faint, unobtrusive flowers that meet our 

 eyes one or two months earlier. 



28 



