branchlets of the bladdernut are breaking into white clusters and
columbine soon will "sprinkle on the rocks a scarlet rain" as it did in
Bayard Taylor's time, although the "scarlet rain," like that of the
painted cup in the lowlands, grows less and less each year. The white
glory of the plum thickets at its height and the hawthornes, whose young
leaves have been a picture of pink and red, will soon break into blossom
and vie with the crabapple thickets in calling attention to the beauty of
masses of color when arranged by the Master Painter.

* * * * *

The carpet of the woodlands grows softer and thicker, and more varied
each day. Ferns and brakes are coming thickly. The flowers grow more
splendid. The large, wholesome looking leaves of the blue bell are a
fitting setting for the masses of bloom which show pink in the bud, then
purple, and lastly a brilliant blue. Jack-in-the-pulpits make us smile
with keen pleasure as memories of happy childhood days come crowding
thickly upon us. The pretty pinnate leaves of the blue-flowered
polemonium are sufficient explanation for the common name Jacobs-ladder,
even though that name does not properly belong to our species. The purple
trilliums, like the Dutchman's breeches, felt the effects of the many
April and early May frosts but now they are coming into their beauty.
Great colonies of umbrella-leaved May-apple are breaking into white
flowers. The broad, lily-like leaves of the true and false Solomon's seal
are even more attractive than their blossoms. Ferns, bellwort, wild
sarsaparilla, all help to soften our footfalls, while overhead the light
daily grows more subdued as the leaf-buds break and the leaves unfold.
The throb of the year's life grows stronger. All the blossoms and buds
which were formed last summer now break quickly into beauty. And,
already, before the year has fairly started, there are signs of