EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 91 
the former rising from the midst of those radi¬ 
cal leaves when it almost puts my eyes out. 
The radical leaves of the shepherd’s purse are 
particularly bright. .... Men of science, when 
they pause to contemplate the power, wisdom, 
and goodness of God, or as they sometimes call 
Him “ the Almighty Designer,” speak of Him 
as a total stranger whom it is necessary to treat 
with the highest consideration. They seem 
suddenly to have lost their wits. 
March 8, 1860. To Cliffs and Walden. 
See a small flock of grackles on the willow row 
above railroad bridge. How they sit and make 
a business of chattering, for it cannot be called 
singing, and there is no improvement from age 
to age, perhaps. Yet as nature is a becoming, 
these notes may become melodious at last. At 
length, on my very near approach, they flit sus¬ 
piciously away, uttering a few subdued notes as 
they hurry off. This is the first flock of black¬ 
birds I have chanced to see, though C. saw one 
the 6th. 
To say nothing of fungi, lichens, mosses, 
and other cryptogamous plants, you cannot say 
that vegetation absolutely ceases at any season 
in this latitude. For there is grass in some 
warm exposures and in springy places always 
growing more or less, and willow catkins ex¬ 
panding and peeping out a little farther every 
