STUDIES OF TREES IN WINTER 



Europe. Its jet black buds distinguish it from 

 other ash trees. In the chapter called ''A Visit 

 to an old Bachelor," in Mrs. Gaskell's "Cran- 

 ford," Mary Smith tells us how she was talk- 

 ing to INIr. Holbrook in the fields, and how he 

 quoted poetry to himself and enjoyed the trees 

 and clouds and glimpses of distant pastures, 

 and how he sviddenly turned sharp round and 

 asked, "Now, what color are ash buds in 

 March?" 



"Is the man going mad? thought I. He is 

 very like Don Quixote. 'What color are they, 

 I say?' repeated he vehemently. 'I am sure I 

 don't know, sir,' said I, with the meekness of 

 ignorance. 'I knew you didn't. No more did 

 I- — an old fool that I am! — till this young 

 man comes and tells me. Black as ash buds 

 in March. And I've lived all my life in the 

 country; more shame for me not to know. 

 Black: they are jet black, madam." 



The "young man" he refers to is Tennyson, 

 and the quotation, "Black as ash buds in the 

 front of ]\Iarch," is a simile used in "The 

 Gardener's Daughter," and it shows how acute 

 Tennyson's powers of observation were, and 

 how true his descriptions of nature. 



The buds of the ash open later in the spring 

 than those of other trees, and the leaves unfold 



40 



