IV 



APRIL 



TF we represent the winter of our northern climate 

 -*- by a rugged snow-clad mountain, and summer 

 by a broad fertile plain, then the intermediate belt, 

 the hilly and breezy uplands, wUl stand for spring, 

 with March reaching well up into the region of the 

 snows, and April lapping well down upon the green- 

 ing fields and unloosened currents, not beyond the 

 limits of winter's sallying storms, but well within 

 the vernal zone, — within the reach of the warm 

 breath and subtle, quickening influences of the plain 

 below. At its best, April is the tenderest of tender 

 salads made crisp by ice or snow water. Its type 

 is the first spear of grass. The senses — sight, 

 hearing, smell — are as hungry for its delicate and 

 almost spiritual tokens as the cattle are for the first 

 bite of its fields. - How it touches one and makes 

 him both glad and sad ! The voices of the arriving 

 birds, the migrating fowls, the clouds of pigeons 

 sweeping across the sky or filling the woods, the 

 elfin horn of the first honey-bee venttmng abroad 

 in the middle of the day, the clear piping of the 

 little frogs in the marshes at sundown, the camp- 

 fire in the sugar-bush, the smoke seen afar rising 



