WINTER FERN-HUNTING 



and thither. The polypodys must have 

 often dropped their fern-seed on my head, 

 but the magic that they invoked with it 

 must have been of the sort that made not 

 me, but the little fern above invisible, for 

 it remained for this winter day of a 

 green Christmas week to show me its 

 fragile beauty still green and undisturbed 

 in the winter weather. No other evi- 

 dence was needed, nor could I have any 

 so good, to prove that spring is indeed 

 here before the winter comes, and though 

 the cold and snow may retard they can- 

 not prevent it from reaching the full 

 beauty and climax of maturity. 



