VERNAL WOOD-SCENERY. 



Ail the seasons display some peculiar beauty that 

 comes from the tints as well as the forms of vegeta- 

 tion. Even the different months have 'their distinguish- 

 ing shades of light and color. Nature, after the repose 

 of winter, very slowly unfolds her beauties, and is not 

 lavish in the early months of any description of orna- 

 ment. Day by day she discloses the verdure of the plain, 

 the sweUing buds with their lively and various colors, 

 and the pale hues of the early flowers. She brings along 

 her offerings one by one, leading from harmony to har- 

 mony, as early twilight ushers in the ruddy tints of morn. 

 We perceive both on the earth and in the skies the forms 

 and tints that signalize the revival of Nature, and every 

 rosy-bosomed cloud gives promise of approaching glad- 

 ness and beauty. 



By the frequent changes that mark the aspect of the 

 year we are preserved at all times in a condition to re- 

 ceive pleasure from the outward forms of Nature. Her 

 tints are as various as the forms of her productions ; and 

 though spring and autumn, when the hues of vegetation 

 are more widely spread and yield more character to the 

 landscape, are the most remarkable for their general 

 beauty, individual objects in summer are brighter and 

 more beautiful than any that can be found at other times. 

 In the early part of the year. Nature tips her productions 

 with softer hues, that gradually ripen into darker shades 

 of the same color, or into pure verdure. By pleasant 

 and slow degrees she mingles with the greenness of the 



