CHAPTER III. 



MAKCH. 



By the first of March, and often earlier, the world is all 

 agog concerning signs of spring. The welcome accorded 

 winter during the holidays is no longer extended to the 

 remaining snow-storms, and we meet with a frown the last 

 cold wave of the season. 



When the outdoor world is ignored — as is so often the 

 case — and the village newspaper becomes one's only source 

 of information, the impression obtains that veritable signs 

 of spring are thick as the clustered stars of heaven. But 



Hast thou, Spring ! some flawless, quick-read sign, 

 Outspeeding thine own steps, to herald thee ? 



Possibly this belief in signs arises from the fact that 

 taking any average village such as lies at the elbow of 

 every one who lives outside a city's walls, and we shall find 

 that about the middle of February half the adults of, we 

 will say, Crankville become weather prophets, and the rest 

 of the community are willing listeners, if not steadfast 

 believers. Not one of the latter but has been periodically 

 deceived since he first pinned his faith on the prophet's 

 assertions ; yet not one of them appears to know this very 

 damaging fact. Indeed, it would never have been discov- 

 ered had not a diarist gone to their benighted village to 

 live, and he it is who has made the writer acquainted with 

 the facts. 



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