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MAY FOLIAGE 



May 17, 1852. Now the sun has come out after 

 the May storm, how bright, how full of freshness and 

 tender promise and fragrance is the new world ! The 

 woods putting forth new leaves; it is a memorable 

 season. So hopeful! These young leaves have the 

 beauty of flowers. . . . Do I smell the young birch 

 leaves at a distance.'' Most trees are beautiful when 

 leafing out, but especially the birch. After a storm 

 at this season, the sun comes out and lights up the 

 tender expanding leaves, and all nature is full of light 

 and fragrance, and the birds sing without ceasing, 

 and the earth is a fairyland. The birch leaves are so 

 small that you see the landscape through the tree, 

 and they are like silvery and green spangles in the 

 sun, fluttering about the tree. 



Journal, iv, 61, 62. 



