198 NATURE STUDY. 
terest centers in this tendency as in the beauty of the flow¬ 
er. I look into the heart of one and see there its “ bridal 
ring of purest gold,” surrounded by a double cross of pure 
white petals. The petals may occur pinkish, and eight to 
twelve in number, arranged in two or three “sets,” but it 
loves the cruciform pattern. 
It is only a step from sanguinary to sanguine, words of 
allied derivation, and the meaning, abounding in blood, 
comes to signify life and animation, and if full of life, why 
not hopeful ? There was precious blood shed upon the 
cross, but out of it came hope. 
There are symbols in my little Sanguinaria of only that 
which has a right to exist there, and if it has known sin, 
it has conquered, which is a greater victory than to have 
lived apart. 
First Signs of Spring. 
BY EARUE FOSTER STAFFORD. 
Early on the morning of February 16, I arose while yet 
the stars were shining brightly and the hushed silence of 
night still prevailed. As I entered a large tract of wood¬ 
land half an hour later, a gray light shone indistinctly along 
the eastern horizon. Gradually the stars grew less bril¬ 
liant, and finally, became wholly invisible, as a rosy hue 
to the eastward gave promise of sunrise. 
The first bird note I heard was the hoarse “chirrup” of 
some early rising English Sparrow, and it was soon followed 
by a chorus of answers from other street sparrows on every 
hand. At 6.25 the lisping calls of Golden-crowned King¬ 
lets were heard, as a band of about six of them gleaned rap¬ 
idly for their breakfast among the bushes and low trees, 
I know of nothing more active than a troop of these sprites 
now dropping to the ground after some fallen larva, like 
