APRIL 



29 



It is only for a brief period that the blossoms 

 of our sugar maple are sweet-scented ; the perfume 

 seems to become stale after a few days : but pass un- 

 der this tree just at the right moment, say at night- 

 fall on the first or second day of its perfect inflores- 

 cence, and the air is loaded with its sweetness ; its 

 perfumed breath falls upon you as its cool shadow 



does a few weeks later. 



BURROUGHS: Pepacton. 



The chipping sparrow, with its ashy white breast, 

 white streak over eye, and undivided chestnut 

 crown, holds up its head and pours forth its che 

 che che che che che. 



THOREAU : Early Spring in Massachusetts. 



30 



A few days earlier, grays, browns, and delicate 

 yellows had prevailed. These were forgotten, 

 swept away by a flood of green and crimson. The 

 green of the meadows, roadsides, and upland hay- 

 fields was so vivid that all underlying tints were 

 obliterated. The willows, which for weeks had 

 been the most conspicuous color-spots in every 

 view, had developed leaves strong enough in color 

 to cancel the golden and coppery tones of their 

 stems and merge them in the greens of grassland 

 and meadow. The maples from gray and mist-like 

 softness had with their red blossoms come forward 

 as the most pronounced color-masses in the land- 

 scape. 



BOLLES : Land of the Lingering Snow. 



