153 SPRING AT THE CAPITAL. 



flowing through a valley of great natural beauty and 

 picturesqueness, shaded nearly all the way by woods 

 of oak, chestnut, and beech, and abounding in dark 

 recesses and hidden retreats. 



I must not forget to mention the many springs with 

 which this whole region is supplied, each the centre of 

 some wild nook, perhaps the head of a little valley one 

 or two hundred yards long, through which one catches 

 a glimpse, or hears the voice of the main creek rushing 

 along below. 



My walks tend in this direction more frequently 

 than in any other. Here the boys go too, troops of 

 them, of a Sunday, to bathe and prowl around, and 

 indulge the semi-barbarous instincts that still lurk 

 within them. Life, in all its forms, is most abundant 

 near water. The rank vegetation nurtures the insects, 

 and the insects draw the birds. The first week in 

 March, on some southern slope where the sunshine 

 lies warm and long, I usually find the hepatica in 

 bloom, though with scarcely an inch of stalk. In the 

 spring runs, the skunk cabbage pushes its pike up 

 through the mould, the flower appearing first, as if 

 Nature had made a mistake. 



It is not till about the ist of April that many wild- 

 flowers may be looked for. By this time the hepatica, 

 anemone, saxifrage, arbutus, houstonia, and bloodroot 

 may be counted on. A week later, the claytonia, or 

 spring beauty, water-cress, violets, a low buttercup, 

 vetch, corydalis, and potentilla appear. These comprise 



