THE TURN OF THE YEAR 33 



The Editor's visage fades from my remem- 

 brance. He is human ; he would drop his 

 blue pencil, even as I drop my pen, if the poor 

 fellow could only see the sun over the chimney- 

 pots as I see it over the trees. There is some- 

 thing different, some new life in the air ; it 

 smells of new life. The turn of the year has 

 come, and " indoors " is stuffy and impossible. 

 I must see that valley again. 



No colour in the winter months ? When 

 I get to the valley I find the elm-trees 

 spangled with scarlet specks in the sunshine 

 (in my youth I never knew that elms had red 

 flowers !) and the beech woods and birches a soft 

 purple, the withy-beds blazing orange and red. 

 Almond-blossom is out in a cottage garden. 

 In one sheltered and sunny spot a pear-tree 

 is just showing signs of flowers : no pears from 

 that tree ! There are bad times ahead, bitter 

 east winds, probably, and snow and sleet, 

 before the real spring comes. But the turn 

 of the year has come, and that means that 

 the sun will gain daily in strength. As in the 

 late war, creative power will get stronger after 

 every onslaught of hate and destruction, and 

 the sunshine will grow constantly warmer until 

 " Break-a-pipe day." That is the name by 

 which we call the day described by Edward 



3 



