With merry
cries they followed the sweeping line of fire, aiding it forward by
catching up on iron rakes burning wisps and transferring them to spots in
the weedy plot that did not kindle readily. Little Ned, clinging to the
hand of Maggie, who had joined the family in the garden, looked on with
awe-struck eyes. From the bonfire and the consuming weeds great volumes
of smoke poured up and floated away, the air was full of pungent odors,
and the robins called vociferously back and forth through the garden,
their alarmed and excited cries vying with the children's shouts. In half
an hour only a faint haze of smoke to the eastward indicated the brief
conflagration; the family had gone to the house for their one-o'clock
dinner, and the birds were content with the normal aspect of the old
garden in April.
The promise of the bright spring day was not fulfilled. Cold rains
followed by frosty mornings and high cool winds prevailed with depressing
persistency. It required almost as much vigor, courage, and activity as
had been essential in March to enjoy out-door life. In many of her
aspects Nature appeared almost to stand still and wait for more genial
skies, and yet for those who watched to greet and to welcome, the mighty
impulse of spring manifested itself in many ways. The currant and
gooseberry bushes, as if remembering their original haunts in dim, cold,
boggy forests, put forth their foliage without hesitation.
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