the gods made Mercury their messenger they gave him a hazel rod to be
used in restoring harmony among the human race. Later he added the
twisted serpents at the top of this caduceus. The caduceus also had
the power of producing sleep, hence Milton calls it "the opiate rod."

When the crimson threads appear in the scaly buds the staminate
catkins are lengthening, and soon the high wind shakes the golden
pollen over all the copse. These flowers which appear before the
leaves all depend upon the wind for their fertilization. That is why
they come before the leaves. And there is always wind enough to meet
all their needs.

March is a masculine month. It was named after the war god and it
always lives up to its traditions. It has had scant courtesy from the
literary men.

_"Ah, passing few are they who speak,
Wild, stormy month, in praise of thee."_

'Twas a night in March when little Gavroche took his infant protegés
into the old elephant which stood in the Place de la Bastile to
shelter them from the cruel wind. It was in the twilight of a day in
March, when the wind howled dismally, that Boniface Willet, in
_Barnaby Rudge_, flattened his fat nose against the window pane and
made one of his famous predictions. It must have been a March freshet
when the Knight Huldebrand put Bertalda into Kuhleborn's wagon and the
gentle Undine saved them both. And we fancy that it was a cold night
in March when Peter stood by the fire and warmed himself.

But the winds of March deserve a word of praise, as everyone knows who