162 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
water, the town and the land it is built on, 
rise but little above the flood. This bright, 
smooth, and level surface seems here the pre¬ 
vailing element, as if the distant town w~ere an 
island. I realize how water predominates on 
the surface of the globe. ..... How different 
to-day from yesterday. Yesterday was a cool, 
bright day, the earth just washed bare by the 
rain, and a strong northwest wind raised re¬ 
spectable billows on our vernal seas, and im¬ 
parted remarkable life and spirit to the scene. 
To-day it is perfectly still and warm, not a rip¬ 
ple disturbs the surface of these lakes, but 
every insect, every small black beetle struggling 
on it, is betrayed. Seen through this air, though 
many might not notice the difference, the rus¬ 
set surface of the earth does not shine, is not 
bright. I see no shining russet islands with 
dry but flushing oak leaves. The air is com¬ 
paratively dead when I attend to it, and it is as 
if there were the veil of a fine mist over all ob¬ 
jects, dulling their edges. Yet this would be 
called a clear day. These aerial differences in 
the days are not commonly appreciated, though 
they affect our spirits. 
When I am opposite the end of the willow 
row, seeing the osiers of perhaps two years old, 
all in a mass, they are seen to be very distinctly 
yellowish beneath and scarlet above. They are 
