EARL Y SPRING DA YS. 65 



March 15, 1899. I sit at the base of a yellow, or 

 short-leaved, pine, Pinus mitis Michx., my head 

 against its fragrant trunk which rises, far out-topping 

 the -grove of cabbage palmettos in the midst of which 

 it stands. My muscles are tired and my brain aweary, 

 the results of yesterday's trip, which was too much 

 for me in my present weakened condition. 



As I came out of the woods this morning and 

 struck the railway, I thought of it as that bond which 

 makes the whole world kin. From ocean to ocean it 

 stretches away; from lake to gulf its rails and sleep- 

 ers lie. Over its bed come daily tidings from the far 

 north, where yet the ice king holds his thrall and 

 rules over all with bonds of frozen moisture. Here, 

 balmy the breeze that kisses my brow, blowing as it 

 does from the Gulf Stream, 120 miles to the south- 

 east. In a letter received this morn a friend has 

 used the word "luxuriate." That is what I am try- 

 ing to do. Soothing the sunshine ! Let it fall around 

 me and fill my body and soul with new energy. Let 

 it rejuvenate me. 



The sight of a tadpole in a pool of dark water be- 

 side the railway had a thrilling effect upon me as I 

 trudged hither. It awakened the cells of memory 

 and caused me to think thoughts and dream dreams 

 of other spring days in the calendar of my life ; of 

 other days when the frogs sang for the first time, 

 when the first chewinks and fox sparrows darted be- 

 fore me from my pathway when every bud felt the 



