22 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
on his new dress of the old, old fashion for the summer, 
and then discarding that which he now wears, so that 
he may be on a footing of equality with the deciduous 
trees, his neighbors, who are now preparing their new 
spring suits. How much brighter he seems than his 
neighbor, the white oak (Quercus alba, L.), who has 
clung to his mantle of withered brown leaves all winter ! 
The murmur that comes up from among the pines 
in the hollow tells us that the brook is certainly awake. 
Yes, and how it has grown! Its old home is all too 
narrow for it to-day. Around the boulders where it 
can, over them where it must, it goes chattering along; 
slowly widening out here, as though it had all time to 
loiter in; there hastily drawing itself up and plunging 
down to the depths below, as if it were in a hurry to 
overtake yesterday; but always lining its banks with a 
narrow fringe of green that is very pleasant to see. 
With what a soft carpet it has covered those rocks piled 
up irregularly, so complete that we can scarcely realize 
that there is rock beneath! As it washes around the 
base of that oak see how it nourishes the life not only 
of the tree but of those half dozen or more species of 
moss that, with their bright fresh green, would seem to 
make this a fit abode for some nymph of the stream. 
Through its clear waters we see scattered stems of the 
water cress (Nasturtium officinale, R. Br.) lazily waving 
to and fro as the busy waters hurry onward. 
