BLUEBELLS 



TO-DAY the woods are bluebell-hazed and leaves 

 are tenderest green, the awakened oaks are half-leaf 

 clad, all catkin-hung, their tiny rouge 

 tips are shading to yellow-ochre- 

 green, almost transparent in 

 their delicacy; a few trees are 

 nearly in full leaf, while some 

 have only just released their 

 buds. 



Somehow these pale new fresh greens are much 

 more beautiful with the bluebell-blue than the darker 

 richer greens of summer. 



Masses of flowers when seen be they a wood of 

 bluebells, a field of buttercups, a moor of heather or 

 a cornfield set with dazzling scarlet poppies produce 

 a surging wave of pleasure ; but there is a something 

 inexpressibly charming, bringing with it a feeling of 

 the satisfying fulness of beauty, in the sight of the 

 new-born greens of trees and woods in spring-time 

 from the time of half-leaf to full-leaf. 



101 



*. * 

 #-*> 



OAKS ARE 

 HALF-LEAP 

 CLAD, ALL 

 CATKIN-HUNG 



