Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-01
M1scELLAHEous READING
SPRING.

Sweetly the Spring steals in upon us with
| soft approaches, just as We are able To bear
the change So the morning, in tenderness
for our eyes, opens gradually on hali-shut
eye to enable the sight 20 gain strength TO
encounter full dawn. This economy of the
eve, which cannot bear all at once the full
light of day without risk ofinjury. is suti
cient proof TO that numerous class who are
skeptical, because they are lazy, of thu testI-
mony Of nature to the value Of early rising.
Nature imposes this As All obligation, using
such gentle force rs it may without impugn-
ing the freedom of the will. The Spring
thus glides am ng US by soft gradatiuns. pro-
vlding detences against its increasing bright
ness in the universal green Of the earth. and
in the dark blue curtain of the heavens,
which are the two particular colnrs most gee.
able to the eve.
In the selecting Of climate to srerd ue'S
davs in, some lay stress or the m,:d'e.s 4
the winter; others on the cooling bIeez"> {
summer Frr ourselves we would STAY c&"C-
tly where We are The heats Of sunn Ell a,e
not long in the latitude of the Middle States.
and there is just about enough of the biting
fr0sts Of winter to brace up the muscles To
fight an equal battle with the hot blasts
which the dog star will by and by bring in
his train. And then the long long spring
that beautiful quarter of the year when the
Pleades rain down their sweet influence. and
have done so ever since the days Of Job, as
well as ages before; no where else, either on
the north or south of us, does this delicious
spring SO linger and daily with the sleeping
bud and flower, soliciting them every morn
thor 4,
ly il succeeds, and the world starts into a
flower garden. Is bud or flower ever SO
fresh and captivating as in the early
spring. when cloud and sunshine dis
pute the honor of its development, and one
cannot tell for the life of him at any hour,
what sort of weather another may bring
forthP
We must in candor, however, acknowledge
that this pretty Spring is also capriclous
beauty, sometimes cOnquering US by It's
bewitching smiles, and, whene yer thesewill
not answer, subduingus with tears. Alter
nate smiles and tears in iacs make up the
character of Spring, and sometimes she-we
insist on her feminity against the authority OF
the ancients-shows her pretty teeth OF snow
even amid her smiles. Her caprice, as has
been limited, proves her sex, and her caresses
are never so fatal as when by her endear-
ments she has warmed her victims into love
and confidence, and then reveals those gilt
terng teeth of hers, which impart death in
her kisses.
The sweetest of sounds, too, are heard in
the vernal season-the distant ripling and
splash of brooks and waterfalls, the low
notes of the warblers and song-birds prac-
tising for the full public concert to be
given in June. We hope our Legislature or
public opinion at any rate will make 1t death
or something less tO kill one Of them, or to
DESTROY their nests. For soon, and during
weeks and weeks to come, they will be build
ing their domicils in the crotches OF leaiy
branches, in the hollows Of trees, in the high
lands, in the low lands, and meadows near
the humble bees honey bottles. II the boys
shall meddle with in the summer. when the
yellow jackets are filling them with nectar,
we hope they will feel the smartng stIngs OF
their owners, that's all.
Nor are birds the only builders at this genl.
al season. Every man who has money in his
pocket feels it turning over and rafting there
from an impatience to buy q building lot. and
erect palace or shanty omit. Ii nothing
more can be attempted, the owner of home
already built demolshes his rooms or fences.
and renews them in fresh FORMS either better
or worse than the old, it is not much matter
which In this, birds are wiser than their
fellow bipeds, for they never construct homes
they do not want to occupy. and rarely build
for posterity which is sure Of course to alter if
not to destroy what its ancestors have done
with infinite labor and much complacent salts
faction. There must surely be some rare
stimulus in the air, or "A kind Of sap in their
own bodies, which can goad on men and birds
to such architectural enterprise. Vegetable
life catches the enthusiasm and expands into
thousands Of new forms Of beauty and utility.
-Nepa,k Daily Advertiser.