IMPRESSIONIST SKETCH 23 



I am, here ; the winter is over and gone ; arise, my love, 

 my fair one, arise and come away." 



Dornroschen, the Sleeping Beauty, has been kissed awake 

 again. One after another had striven in vain to win a 

 way through the barriers which encircled the place of her 

 sleeping ; but at length the Prince and Master came, to 

 whom all was easy the sunshine of the first Spring day. 

 And as he kissed the Beauty, all the buglers blew, both 

 high and low, the cawing rooks on the trees, and the croak- 

 ing frogs by the pond, each according to his strength and 

 skill. All through the palace there was such a reawaken- 

 ing : of the men-at-arms, we call them bears and hedge- 

 hogs ; of the night-watchmen, known to us as bats ; not 

 to speak of the carpet-sweepers, like the dormice and ham- 

 sters all were reawakened. The messengers went swiftly 

 forth, we are told, the dragon-flies like living flashes of 

 light ; the bustling humble-bees, making a good deal of 

 fuss, but refreshing themselves considerably at " The 

 Willow Catkins " by the way ; the moths flying softly 

 by night on secret service. How accurate the old stories 

 are : " The scullery-boy got a long delayed box on the ear 

 when the cook awoke " ; I saw the wood-snail draw in 

 his horns as the thrush swept swiftly by. 



These Spring days are the days of youth of seedlings, 

 buds, and fresh blossom, of tadpoles, nestlings, and lamb- 

 kins : of which, as of children, there are two thoughts 

 which we cannot help thinking. 



The first is a thought of Easter, of the forgiveness of 

 Nature, of its infinite power of making a fresh start. In 

 Autumn we saw the vine robbed of all its leaves trans- 

 figured in their dying and hard-bound by the frost ; but 

 Dionysus smiled at his captors, and now the tender vines 

 put forth a sweet smell. We saw the sloe in winter, bare 

 as a skeleton in the desert, but black ; we see it now covered 



