SPRING AT THE CAPITAL 155 
if so gentle a swell of greensward may be said to 
have a summit, is covered with a grove of large 
oaks; and, sweeping back out of sight like a man- 
tle, the front line of a thick forest bounds the sides. 
This emerald landscape is seen from a number of 
points in the city. Looking along New York 
Avenue from Northern Liberty Market, the eye 
glances, as it were, from the red clay of the street, 
and alights upon this fresh scene in the distance. 
It is a standing invitation to the citizen to come 
forth and be refreshed. As I turn from some hot, 
hard street, how inviting it looks! I bathe my 
eyes in it as in a fountain. Sometimes troops of 
cattle are seen grazing upon it. In June the gath- 
ering of the hay may be witnessed. When the 
ground is covered with snow, numerous stacks, or 
clusters of stacks, are still left for the eye to con- 
template. 
The woods which clothe the east side of this hill, 
and sweep away to the east, are among the most 
charming to be found in the District. The main 
growth is oak and chestnut, with a thin sprinkling | 
of laurel, azalea, and dogwood. It is the only lo- 
cality in which I have found the dogtooth violet | 
in bloom, and the best place I know of to gather | 
arbutus. On one slope the ground is covered with 
moss, through which the arbutus trails its glories. 
Emerging from these woods toward the city, one 
sees the white dome of the Capitol soaring over the 
green swell of earth immediately in front, and lift- 
ing its four thousand tons of iron gracefully and 
