THE PROGRESS OF THE SEASONS, 309 



of spring are rudely repelled, and the rills from the 

 melting snow again arrested, and — 



" What will the robin do then, poor thing ? " 



However, April ushers in some fine days, and the increas- 

 ing power of the sun tells upon the masses of snow in 

 the fir-woods and the rotting ice in the lakes ; and at 

 last comes a fierce storm of wind and rain, with a warm, 

 oppressive atmosphere, as if the genial breath of spring, 

 tired of attempting to coax away the departing chills of 

 Avinter, had now determined to exert all its force, and 

 with hot gales and heavy rains ease the surface of the 

 country and lakes of their icy garments. Now a change 

 is indeed evident ; the snow, with the exception of a 

 patch or two in hollows, has all disappeared from the face 

 of the earth, and the great monotonous fir-woods them- 

 selves lose their dark wintry aspect and blackness, assuming 

 a lively green tint, and emitting, as one wanders through 

 their sunny glades, faint odours of that delicious aroma 

 which pervades the atmosphere in the heat of midsummer. 

 How great a relief this to the resident in these climes, 

 subject so long to the stern rule of winter ! What heart 

 does not feel forgotten memories recalled, when, wander- 

 ing along sunny banks in the fir- woods, the first blossom 

 of the fnigraut jNIay-fiower is seen and culled ? " We 

 bloom amid the snow," is the motto of our province ; and 

 the ]\lay-flower (Epiga3a repens) is to us what the violet, 

 sou«^lit in hediie-rows, is to our friends at home — entail- 

 ino; the same close search for its retirinof blossoms, and 

 evoking the same feelings of gladness and hope. And 

 we cling to these balmy spring days all the more closely 

 as we dread the chill easterly wind, and the dark sea-fog 



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