44 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
of the earth ever is (i. e., without snow), 
bleached, as it were, and in the hollows of it, 
set round by the tawny hills and banks, is this 
copious, living, and sparkling blue water of vari¬ 
ous shades. It is more dashing, rippling, spark¬ 
ling, living this windy but clear day, never 
smooth, but ever varying in its degree of mo¬ 
tion and depth of blue, as the wind is more or 
less strong, rising and falling. All along the 
shore next us is a strip a few feet wide of very 
light and smooth sky-blue, for so much is shel¬ 
tered ever by the lowest shore, but the rest is 
all more or less agitated and dark blue. In it 
are floating or stationary, here and there, cakes 
of white ice, the least looking like ducks, and 
large patches of water have a dirty-white or 
even tawny look where the ice still lies on the 
bottom of the meadow. Thus even the meadow 
flood is parded, of various patches of color. Ever 
and anon the wind seems to drop down from 
over the hills in strong puffs, and then spread 
and diffuse itself in dark, fan-shaped figures 
over the surface of the water. It is glorious to 
see how it sports on the watery surface. You 
see a hundred such nimble-footed puffs drop 
and spread on all sides at once, and dash on, 
sweeping the surface of the water for forty rods 
in a few seconds, as if so many invisible spirits 
were playing tag there. It even suggests some 
