28 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
eglantine, the heather and others among the English, of 
the violet, the trailing arbutus, the painted-cup, the 
golden-rod and others among ourselves. The native 
flora is that which is associated with most of our recol- 
lections of Nature. Fields of buttercups and daisies 
belong to the memories of spring always, wild roses and 
wild berries to the summer, asters and golden-rods to 
the autumn. It is no wonder that, after that first se- 
vere winter at Plymouth, the Pilgrims gave to the early 
flowers and the early bird-visitors names which recalled 
the scenes of their childhood in that far-off old home. 
The great event of the year is the sun’s crossing 
the Equator. The vernal equinox, in a sense the initial 
point of the year, is surely the initial point for plant 
and animal life. It brings longer days; it brings sun- 
shine, warmth, light, hope. It strikes the key-note in 
the great anthem of Life, which will rise in grand and 
ever grander strains through the few coming months. 
It is the herald of many beauties. 
“In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the 
robin’s breast ; 
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself 
another crest ; 
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the 
burnished dove ; 
In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns 
to thoughts of love.” 
