II. 



APRIL AWAKENING. 



The lover of Nature will feast on the peculiar 

 dainties which the gracious days of April are 

 offering. One cannot afford to miss her flowers, 

 her odors and her sounds, for there is in these 

 something delightfully fresh and tender and deli- 

 cate, that cannot be enjoyed at other seasons of 

 the year. The earth now appears promising and 

 youthful ; yet, as there are special characteristics 

 in gentle childhood corresponding to those of mel- 

 low age, so there are certain aspects in the first 

 blush of the month — lights lingering over the 

 woods tod hills — that have the semblance of 

 Autumn. 



The hasty, almost premature work of trimming 

 the bare branches of the early trees and shrubs 

 with flower tassels, plumes and clusters, is curious. 

 What brilliant crimson knots appear on the young 

 pwamp maples! How pretty the catkins are! 



23 



