^NATURE'S REVIVAL 



The spirit of spring is in the 

 air. Not the hopefully delusive 

 / '~ promise so often overshadowed 



by delays and dis^>pointments, but the real spirit 

 that breathes life to all animated Nature. There 

 is something universally contagious in the awaken- 

 ing of Nature. The piping call of a Robin, or 

 even the silent opening of a bud, awakens the 

 insistent thrill of fellowship in the mystery of 

 life. The solitary messengers of a week ago have 

 been followed by advancing flocks, and some have 

 already assumed their old aspect of familiarity. 

 Robins are hurrying up the valle]^ and over the 

 adjacent hiUs, active and enei^etic, but obdurately 

 silent. Fences, trees, and shrubbery, roads, lanes, 

 and open fields — every available resting place is 

 tried in impatient succession, but through the 

 active communal life of the new arrivals there is an 

 uneasy suspicion of human intruders. The com- 

 munism of the gathering flocks will soon be lost in 



17 B 



