ACCORDING TO SEASON 



ward, and if all the flowers were left behind on the 

 cinder-bank. Another ride on a fine level path, 

 beneath shadowy, blue-green pines, and another 



test climb, this time without dismounting. Then a 



rest (and, unless you have forced your bicycle up 

 a hill under the morning sun, you don't know the 

 meaning of that word) beneath a blossoming elm, 

 seeking the shadow of its trunk, for the leafless 

 branches gave little protection, staring lazily into 

 the swamp beneath, bright with its willows and 

 maples, and at the dim mountains beyond. So 

 finally we reach our destination, with excellent 

 appetites for an excellent dinner, and a strong 

 tendency afterward to loaf indefinitely about the 

 pretty village. 



But at last we summoned the energy necessary 

 for a fresh start, on foot this time, for some neigh- 

 boring woods. The road led through a pine- 



A fresh grove, then by a grassy opening, beyond which, 

 on a rocky slope beneath deciduous trees which 

 let down great squares of sunlight, grew the 

 starry, white-petaled, yellow-centred flowers of 

 the bloodroot, each one partially encircled by its 

 pale, protecting leaf. It was some time before we 

 could take our fill of these snowy beauties. One 

 had to get fairly down on the ground to appre- 

 ciate their delicate perfection, for their whole 

 ethereal aspect forbids handling. 



46 



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