108 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
faces ! surfaces ! If the outside of a man is so 
variegated and extensive what must the inside 
be ? You are high up the Platte River, travers¬ 
ing deserts, plains covered with soda, with no 
deeper hollow than a prairie-dog hole, tenanted 
also by owls and venomous snakes. 
As I look toward the woods from Wood’s 
Bridge, I perceive the spring in the softened 
air. This is to me the most interesting and 
affecting phenomenon of the season as yet. 
Apparently, in consequence of the very warm 
sun, this still and clear day, falling on the earth 
four fifths covered with snow and ice, there is 
an almost invisible vapor held in suspension, 
which is like a thin coat or enamel applied to 
every object, and especially it gives to the 
woods of pine and oak intermingled, a softened 
and more living appearance. They evidently 
stand in a more genial atmosphere than before. 
Looking more low I see that shimmering in the 
air over the earth which betrays the evapora¬ 
tion going on. Looking through this trans¬ 
parent vapor, all surfaces, not osiers and open 
water alone, look more vivid. The hardness of 
winter is relaxed. There is a fine effluence sur¬ 
rounding the wood, as if the sap had begun to 
stir, and you could detect it a mile off. Such 
is the difference in an object seen through a 
warm, moist, and soft air, and a cold, dry, hard 
