288 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
and dead, bound out. Out of doors there was 
nothing but the wind and the withered grass, 
and the cold though sparkling blue water, and 
you were driven in upon yourself. Now, you 
would think there was a sudden awakening in 
the very crust of the earth, as if flowers were 
expanding and leaves putting forth; but not so. 
I listen in vain to hear a frog or a new bird as 
yet. Only the frozen ground is melting a little 
deeper, and the water is trickling from the hills 
in some places. No, the change is mainly in 
us. We feel as if we had obtained a new lease 
of life. 
March 31, 1856. I see the scarlet tops of 
white maples nearly a mile off down the river, 
the lusty shoots of last year. Those of the red 
maple do not show thus. I see many little 
holes in the old and solid snow where leaves 
have sunk down gradually and perpendicularly 
eleven or twelve inches, the hole no larger at 
the top than at the bottom, nay, often partly 
closed at top by the drifting, and exactly the 
form and size of the leaf. It is as if the sun 
had driven this thin shield like a bullet thus 
deep into the solid snow. 
March 31,1857. A very pleasant day. Spent 
a part of it in the garden preparing to set out 
fruit trees. It is agreeable once more to put a 
spade into the warm mould. The victory is 
