AN APRIL DAT DREAM 



AT the foot of the hill, where the wild 

 winds of winter can never reach, and 

 a bubbling spring keeps all frost at arm's 

 length, there I have been accustomed to go 

 for many a year, not to witness any exciting 

 event or hear the initial concert of the coming 

 season, but because that airy fairy creature 

 Spring first touches the earth at this point. 

 Here we find the first of her footprints, and 

 always, before going up to possess the land, 

 she here tests her power of revivification by 

 kissing the heavy eyelids of the sleeping 

 violets. Can there be better reason for this 

 vernal stroll to the hill-foot ? The very faft 

 that the year's proper beginning is so gen- 

 erally associated with youth, and youth in its 

 most attractive guise is of itself an induce- 

 ment to give more heed to the season of 

 promise than to those of fulfilment which 

 follow. 



ii 



