137. First stage. Lance-like form seen pushing out from banks of brooks
CHAPTER VI
THE BENEFICENT RAIN
“We knew it would rain for the poplar’s showed
The white of their leaves, the amber grain
Shrunk in the wind and the lightning now
Is tangled in tremulous skeins of rain.”
—Aldrich.
Fickle April, the season of sunshine and rain, comes on apace; and the bluebird, that “comes first you know, like a violet that has taken wings,” has piped his clear advance notes in the hedges, and a bright message of promise his cheery song always brings, of blossoms and verdure soon to follow.
Surely each changing month brings with its advent its own peculiar charms. The seasons of frost, snow and ice are full of beauty to those of us who have looked into, and delight to ponder over, the many secret ways of nature. But April with its sudden showers, which eventually do bring forth the May flowers, we hail with hope; and are only too happy to leave behind us, as a pleasant remembrance, the more sombre, frozen charms of winter.