C 12 1 



COWSLIPS 



April 6, 1853. To Second Division Brook. One 

 cowslip, though it shows the yellow, is not fairly out, 

 but will be by to-morrow. How they improve their 

 time! Not a moment of sunshine lost. One thing I 

 may depend on: there has been no idling with the 

 flowers. They advance as steadily as a clock. Nature 

 loses not a moment, takes no vacation. These plants, 

 now protected by the water, just peeping forth. I 

 should not be surprised to find that they drew in 

 their heads in a frosty night. 



Journal, v, 98. 



April 11, 1856. I might have said on the 8th: Be- 

 hold that little hemisphere of green in the black and 

 sluggish brook, amid the open alders, sheltered under 

 a russet tussock. It is the cowslips' forward green. 

 Look narrowly, explore the warmest nooks; here are 

 buds larger yet, showing more yellow, and yonder 

 see two full-blown yellow disks, close to the water's 

 edge. Methinks they dip into it when the frosty 

 nights come. 



Journal, viii, 276. 



