in the year. For January and Febru- 

 ary he gives some unfamiliar names 

 like the " Mezerion Tree, which then 

 blossoms, Crocus Vernus, both the 

 yellow and the grey, Prim-Roses, 

 Anemones, the early Tulippa, Hia- 

 cynthus Orientalis, Chamairis, Fret- 

 telaria." 



In my own garden, I would part 

 with almost any flower that makes its 

 home there before 1 would give up 

 my crocuses. They are only of two 

 shades, yellow and white, for purple 

 always seems to me to breathe of sad- 

 ness, and to my mind these first flow- 

 ers should speak only of joy, — joy 

 that the long cold winter is past, that 

 spring is at hand, that before long I 

 shall welcome to the garden the robin, 

 whose bright, clear whistle will take 

 me to the window on a run. There 

 he is, on the old oak, a tree so vener- 

 able and so great that it seems a posi- 

 6 



