APRIL'S IN THE WOODS 
by MARIE NILSSON 
It had rained the day before and the day before that, but 
the next morning was golden with sunshine ... a perfect 
promise for an April exploration in the woods to welcome 
the early flowers and the birds newly arriving. Harms 
Woods, the Wayside Woods and Linne Woods, only 
thirty minutes away, were waiting. 
Stepping out of the car, a bluebird flew by as if 
anticipating this moment. There is a secluded spot in 
Harms Woods where the Dutchman’s-breeches grow. Un- 
happily, the early buds and flowers had been frost-nipped. 
The hepaticas, in many shades, were all about among the 
fallen leaves. The warm soft April breeze turned them 
this way and that to be admired from all sides im 
bloodroot looked up at the sky, having suddenly escaped 
from a green leaf prison. The first bloodroot plants are 
in miniature; as the season progresses they grow larger, 
and by summer the leaves are still growing. 
