A SUBURBAN RAMBLE 
23 
name* The Hepaticas come out as if they had 
enjoyed the winter* Their characteristic leaves are 
full of vitality, although their stems may droop* And 
in the centre among the stems the rising woolly 
bunches are reaching up, preparing to unfold the 
delicate flowers already impatient for the early sun* 
The Trailing Arbutus is still more eager, though 
advancing more quietly under the dead Oak leaves* 
Where an occasional leaf shows only a hard vitality, a 
careful search close to the moist ground will disclose 
flowers already open, showing delicate white and 
pink and enriching the air with perfume* 
Rich red patches on the Silver Birch show where 
vandals have robbed the trees of their beauty* The 
sublime egotism of the human name, at which the 
greatest of all egotists in modern literature marvelled, 
is seen in the initial letters with which the bark is 
defaced* More stirring to the fancy is a cabalistic 
design cut with care and regularity in the white bark* 
It is not the insignia of any secret order, inscribed in 
the enthusiastic faith of a neophyte* There is no 
clue to the intent or purpose of the strange marks* 
They are hidden away in the loneliest spot, in 
contrast with the conspicuously displayed initials* 
Fancy and speculation are dampened by the multi- 
plicity of influences that prompt humanity to action* 
In the nibbled bark of a broken limb we see where the 
Field Mice, driven from home by the recent floods, 
