(§ Curt fot Wxnttx 



den and the bees, it is some of a thousand other 

 chores that keep you busy and living past the pre- 

 sent, — and past the present is the spring. 



I am watching for the phoebes to return to the 

 shed, — they are my first birds. I long to hear the 

 shrill piping of the March frogs, to pick a blue 

 hepatica from beneath the pines ; for these are some 

 of the things, besides cheaper rent, more room, more 

 boys, fresh air, quiet, and a cow, that one lives for 

 here on the farm. But I am not waiting, winter-sick, 

 for I have stored the summer in attic and cellar; 

 I am already having my spring — in prospect ; and 

 as for the actual winter, the snow-bound days are all 

 too few for the real winter joys of this simple, ample 

 life, here in the quiet, among the neighbor fields. 



