ri:olOf;ral<h by K. j. U'ah'is, Kcxv Grtin. 



■IN THE GLADES THE CHASTE WHITE SNOWDROPS, PLEADING FOR SPRING. 



VERNAL DAYS 



By R. A. STAIG 



Moist, bright, and green, the landscape laughs around." 



WHO could say when Spring began ? 

 Through the last months of the 

 old year there were touches of 

 new-formed green, and scarcely a day 

 passed without a fresh bloom or a blossom ; 

 always something new a])pearing some- 

 where : brown moths along the bared 

 hedgerows, the clear- winged gnats whose 

 spring is winter, spots of gold on the 

 wayside whins ; each hibernal hour the 

 springtime of some life. There were 

 intervals when thrushes sang. After the 

 first snowfall yellow stars opened on the 



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jasmine ; and sweet perfumed flowers, 

 ghstening whitt' and rose-pink, clustered 

 around the stiff, leafless mezereon stems. 

 True to its time tlie lowly aconite, tlie 

 short stalk with the green frill bearing 

 the golden cuj). 



Light increasing, and the (hilling in- 

 fluence of darkness on the wane. The 

 life-sap rising, plant stem and (n-e trunk; 

 buds swelling on the branclu'S. The 

 caterpillar (piickening in the tiny egg. 

 The " chi-kurr " of the jiartridge to his 

 mate. Dawns the dav i>f the warmer 



