CHAPTER IV 



THROUGH THE CHANGING YEAR 



IN writing about nature during the different 

 seasons of the year, winter seems to be 

 the best season with which to begin. At any 

 rate, the choice lies between winter and spring. 

 Here I purpose to begin with winter. But 

 every season has been prepared for by the pre- 

 ceding one, and is preparing for the one that is 

 to follow. There is no beginning and no end, 

 but a continuous cycle of change. We have 

 to "run in," as children do with a skipping- 

 rope that is being continually turned. 



So I find myself, beginning to write about 

 the trees in winter, obliged to make one refer- 

 ence to autumn. In winter most of our trees 

 are stripped of their leaves. They are 



Bare ruin'd choirs where no bird sings. 



We are accustomed to say that the trees have 



lost their leaves. Unable as we are not our- 



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