Truly
spring had come in that nook of the old garden, even though the mountains
were still covered with snow, the river was full of floating ice, and the
wind chill with the breath of winter. Could there have been a fairer or
more fitting committee of reception than little Johnnie, believing in all
things, hoping all things, and brown-haired, hazel-eyed Amy, with the
first awakenings of womanhood in her heart?
CHAPTER XXII
"FIRST TIMES"
At last Nature was truly awakening, and color was coming into her pallid
face. On every side were increasing movement and evidences of life. Sunny
hillsides were free from snow, and the oozing frost loosed the hold of
stones upon the soil or the clay of precipitous banks, leaving them to
the play of gravitation. Will the world become level if there are no more
upheavals? The ice of the upper Hudson was journeying toward the sea that
it would never reach. The sun smote it, the high winds ground the
honey-combed cakes together, and the ebb and flow of the tide permitted
no pause in the work of disintegration. By the middle of March the blue
water predominated, and adventurous steamers had already picked and
pounded their way to and from the city.
Only those deeply enamored of Nature feel much enthusiasm for the first
month of spring; but for them this season possesses a peculiar fascination.
The beauty that has been so cold and repellent in relenting--yielding,
seemingly against her will, to a wooing that cannot be repulsed by even her
harshest moods.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215