NUTS 293 



they strewn about. But this bright spring day had 

 nothing to do with the empty past, and everything 

 seemed opening to the warmth of the returning sun. 



A month later, when the catkins had decayed, the 

 tree had another glory it was clothed in bright 

 green leaves. The buds might have been seen 

 unfolding to the light until their tender colour 

 kissed all the woods. The floor of the copse had only 

 a thin layer of soil, but the sun warmed it, and a 

 carpet of bluebells reflected the azure of the sky. 

 A breadth of green is always delicious, however 

 green ; so is a belt of blue. These are the colours 

 of earth and sky, and are never monotonous to 

 the eye. 



The rock-rose sprang up, and the wild thyme 

 and the primrose carpeted the woods. Still the sap 

 ascended, the hazel leaves drank in the moisture, 

 and expanded more and more. By June their green 

 rounded lobes were perfected, and then the hazel 

 was not an unhandsome tree. It was now, during 

 the time of the running sap, that the old basket- 

 maker came to the copse for the long lissom wands ; 

 they are tough and flexible, and are used for a variety 

 of purposes. Here, too, the professional fern-seller 

 obtained the sticks wherewith to make his rustic 

 baskets. By this time the soft-billed summer birds 

 had arrived, and the woods and copses were flooded 

 with their outpourings. By the time the old 



