Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 104 December 1901 to May 1902 . wn with blue-starred creepers of the periwinkle; theexquisite perfume was like the memoriesof a hundred years of sunshine andSpring. I walked through aisles of lilac-trees where furled leaves made softgreen curls upon brown branches, downpathways bordered on either side bygreat towering green yuccas, whoseswordlike leaves swept the ground witha suggestion of cruelty essentiallySpanish. The tall dead blooms of lastyear held up empty seed-pods to heavenin a very rage of neglect. I brushed bygiant shrubs of Pyrus japonica showin
Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 104 December 1901 to May 1902 . wn with blue-starred creepers of the periwinkle; theexquisite perfume was like the memoriesof a hundred years of sunshine andSpring. I walked through aisles of lilac-trees where furled leaves made softgreen curls upon brown branches, downpathways bordered on either side bygreat towering green yuccas, whoseswordlike leaves swept the ground witha suggestion of cruelty essentiallySpanish. The tall dead blooms of lastyear held up empty seed-pods to heavenin a very rage of neglect. I brushed bygiant shrubs of Pyrus japonica showingthe first red of its fiery bloom, by mag-nolia-trees thick with buds, and undergreat snowball - bushes which archedover the pathway beneath. In the moreformal portion of the garden the tulipsand hyacinths were drawing from I liechemistry of Nature their brilliant colorsand sweel perfumes to breathe upon theair. In the centre of this reviving colorand fragrance was a beautiful evergreenarbor-vita? tree, so perfect in shape, sogreenly vivid, that on that day it was. like all of the thoughts of Easter crys-tallized into form; it was the realiza-tion of a Winters hope, a dream of im-mortality, the never - changing life ofthe spirit. The day made those century-old walks, bordered by mossy stone flag-ging, quiet aisles of prayer, or whisper-ing-galleries where one heard footstepswhich had echoed there in love and hopeand joy, in death and desolation. Mid-April! Snow, moist, deep, andclinging! For three days the tenderleaves and forming buds shivered in softwhite wreaths, heavy with moisture; andthen Spring, as if ashamed of capri-cious ways, turned in her most attract-ive guise and sent warm days, and look-ed at the sweet fresh world through the trembling haze that makes the valley soattractive. It is elusive, suggestive ofday-dreams, of far, unfathomable dis-tances ; it gives a fairylike enchantmentto the cloud palaces which hang over thehill-tops. There is a subtle analogy be-twee
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