EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 69 



no sign of Summer, or even of Spring, had 

 yet appeared. Never, in the memory of man, 

 among whom I happen to be one of the oldest, 

 has such an April happened as the one now 

 just closed. 



I was curious to see what nature was doing 

 among the old Beeches of Burnham,. but wind 

 and weather, frost and snow, sleet, hail, rain, 

 north-easterly gales and blizzards prevented my 

 going there. I wanted to see them in their 

 spring beauty, not in their wintry garb. What 

 cuckoo in his senses would think of rushing 

 into these Arctic regions from his sunny home 

 in the south ? swallows, swifts, and martins 

 had appeared only intermittently. 



The land hereabouts is gravelly and absorbent. 

 One gets up in the morning and the fields are 

 covered with one great white sheet of snow two 

 or three inches deep. The young colts and 

 cattle in yonder meadow are dashing about 

 wildly, neighing and lowing, and wanting to 

 know why their food is shut off. Blackbirds, 

 thrushes, chaffinches, torn-tits, sparrows, robins, 

 and starlings are hopping about under the snow- 

 laden bushes seeking food and finding none ; 

 they are starving, and, if this continues, will 



