IX 



SPRING IN THE GARDEN 



I AM writing these notes in early spring and have 

 just returned by the path through the copse 

 where is the one handmaiden that April — fickle 

 though she be — never forgets to summon to her 

 bidding. The "rathe primrose" waits — ^impatient 

 — all through the stress and storm peeping out 

 haJf-defiant, half-afraid, from the sheltering moss 

 and crisp brown coverlet of withered leaves, until 

 April's beckoning finger gives the signal and she 

 is free at last to weave her dainty carpet where 

 and how she will. 



We caU her "prime-rose" for no particular 

 reason. In Chaucer's day her name was " prime- 

 role " — the firstUng of the spring — ^but the change 

 slipped gradually into common diction, and prim- 

 rose she will remain as long as our English tongue 



is spoken. Who has not felt the glad surprise 



135 



