192 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
sluggish waters, and run up the brooks toward 
their sources. All nature revives at this season. 
With her it is really a new life. It cheers me 
to behold the swarms of gnats w r hich have re¬ 
vived in the spring sun. The fish lurks by the 
mouth of its native brook watching its oppor¬ 
tunity to dart up the stream by the cakes of 
ice. Do the fishes stay to hold prayer-meet¬ 
ings in Fair Haven Bay, while some monstrous 
pike gulps them down ? Or is not each one 
privately, or with kindred spirits, as soon as 
possible, stemming the course of its native 
brook, making its way to more'ethereal waters, 
burnishing its scaly armor by its speed ? . . . . 
No wonder we feel the spring influences. There 
is a motion in the very ground under our feet. 
Each rill is peopled with new life rushing up it. 
In order that a house and grounds may 
be picturesque and interesting in the highest 
degree, they must suggest the idea of necessity, 
proving the devotion of the builder, not of lux¬ 
ury. We need to see the honest and naked 
life here and there protruding. What is a fort 
without any foe before it ? that is not now sus¬ 
taining and never has sustained a siege ? The 
gentleman whose purse is always full, and who 
can meet all demands, though he employs the 
most famous artists, can never make a very in¬ 
teresting seat. He does not carve from near 
