WILDWOOD WAYS 



to the Bahamas, but merely to the sub- 

 soil, whence it slips, full of warmth and 

 thrill, on any sunshiny day. If we will 

 but seek the right places we need not 

 search long to find April all about us, 

 though they may be cutting ten-inch ice 

 on the pond and winter overcoats be the 

 prevailing wear. 



To-day I found young and thrifty 

 plants, green and succulent, of two vari- 

 eties of fern that are not common in my 

 neighborhood and that I had never sus- 

 pected in that location. I had passed 

 them amid the universal green of summer 

 without noticing them, but now their 

 color stood out among the prevailing 

 browns and grays as vividly as yellow 

 blossoms do in a June meadow. 



Yet I sought the greater ferns of my 

 acquaintance in vain in many an accus- 

 tomed place. Down by the fountain 

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