16 The Benison of Spring. 



they keep their bright yellow faces from dark and sullen 

 skies. Again, when the Spring is gone, and Summer is 

 gone, and the trees glow with their crimson leaves, or, 

 mayhap, have lost them entirely, how cheering is the bright 

 yellow face of the dandelion, as it nestles on its short stem 

 in some sheltered nook ! It hugs the earth then, as if it 

 suspected Winter, and does not grow as fearlessly as the 

 spring-time flower. 



But we must hasten back to Spring, for indeed it is in 

 haste itself, and will be too quickly passed. My companion 

 says: " Do not let us have June right away, for then it is 

 July and then Autumn, and then our year is gone." So we 

 hasten back to Spring, to the blood-root blossoms, to the 

 arbutus and the bluets. 



The rhubarb comes up quite gaily in the garden and 

 commences to spread its elephant-eared leaves. It is true 

 it has been peeping forth this long time, seeing, perhaps, 

 whether it was safe to come yet ; but the early days of 

 April in this clime bid no plant trust in the morrow. So 

 it has been content to wait, and it is only just now that it 

 has decided to push upward its rose-colored stalks. But 

 the old pear-tree has a greater show, and, I believe, if a 

 man could live two hundred years and retain his eyesight, 

 he would stand every Spring to admire the pageant of 

 blossoms. It has looked dull and half-dead all Winter, 

 and you might have cut it down for firewood, but now it 

 seems a sacrilege to break even one of its branches. The 

 warblers come and tarry among its blossoms, and help, 

 with their bright colored bodies, to make a more splendid 

 show. 



