SPRING JOTTINGS 163 



the seasons first stands ajar this month, and gives us 

 a peep beyond. The month in which to begin the 

 world, in which to begin your house, in which to 

 begin your courtship, in which to enter upon any 

 new enterprise. The bees usually get their first 

 pollen this month and their first honey. All hiber- 

 nating creatures are out before April is past. The 

 coon, the chipmunk, the bear, the turtles, the frogs, 

 the snakes, come forth beneath April skies. 



April 8. A day of great brightness and clearness, 

 — a crystalline April day that precedes snow. In 

 this sharp crisp air the flakes are forming. As in 

 a warm streaming south wind one can almost smell 

 the swelling buds, so a wind from the opposite quar- 

 ter at this season as often suggests the crystalline 

 snow. I go up in the sugar bush [this was up 

 among the Catskills], and linger for an hour among 

 the old trees. The air is still, and has the property 

 of being "hollow," as the farmers say; that is, it 

 is heavy, motionless, and transmits sounds well. 

 Every warble of a bluebird or robin, or caw of crow, 

 or bark of dog, or bleat of sheep, or cackle of geese, 

 or call of boy or man, within the landscape, comes 

 distinctly to the ear. The smoke from the chimney 

 goes straight up. 



I walk through the bare fields; the shore larks 

 run or flit before me; I hear their shuffling, gur- 

 gling, lisping, half-inarticulate song. Only of late 

 years have I noticed the shore larks in this section. 

 Now they breed and pass the summer on these hills, 

 and I am told that they are gradually becoming per- 



