Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1884-04-03
How Shall We Meet the Spring?

How shall We meet the spring? This
would be an easier question to answer it we
knew how the spring, in this latitude, wonld
NEE, as--whether halfway, or, indeed, at
all. For in this matter we are not guided
by experience. Hope springs eternal in the
Northern breast. And We allow ourselves
to be deceived BY many artificial conditions
We have created. We get seventy and
eighty degrees Fahrenheit by telegraph, and
fancy we are warmed. We eat green peas
and strawberries and the shad out Of season,
and fancy that we have changed the course
Of nature. Lulled into negligence by these
appearances, man leaves of his overcoat,
and next day sends for the doctor. The doc
tor, who has all seasons for his own, regards
spring as his harvest-,ime. He saves more
lives then than in any other season. And
lives are worth saving then, for the man
who gets through spring is likely to be a
good patient all the year. There never was
notion so without a foundation as this,
that doctors do not want patients all the
year. This faith in spring is beautiful
trait in human nature. We always expect
that This spring will be early and will be
mild, and Fifty years of disappointments do
not sour us. Ii the winter is hard and
heavy, We say that is a sign Of early spring
If it is open and tolerable. we know that we
shall have an open spring. More than this:
our memory is colored like our hope, and as
we 20 on in years we say that in our youth
spring was early. mild. and jocund. No
trout rise so readily and are so gamey as the
trout Of our youth--excepi the trout we ex.
pee, to throw fly to this spring. This is
the nature Of man. No wonder that the
Psalmist exclaimed, "Wbat is man that
Thou art mindful of him, :"
How shall we meet the spring? We
have stood long siege, from November to
April. A part of the garrison have been
"braeed up" BY it, as they call it; Others
are weary and worn out. and would have
surrendered long ago if flag of truce had
appeared. Their energies are exhausted,
and just when they need tonic there comes
upon them at leap the dehilitating hea, of
summer. This is. however, only one way
Of looking a, it. More subtle influences
are at work. The plants. the trees, have had
as hard time as we have; some Of them are
dead. But those that survive, as soon as
they fee! the coaxlng sun and the increasing
warmth in the soil, begin 10 get up their cir
cu!ation, to quicken the pulse of their sap,
and to bourgeon into the most exquisite life.
We are much like them. Grumble as VIC
wilt, we. too, feel TO the core of our being
the thrill of life newly beginning, and are
born again. This is a delicious feeling, this
tender sympathy in the renaissance of all
things, this sentiment We feel about the
voice Of the frog, and the first flush of pink
and green on the trees, and the south wind.
For some days everybody, however old, is
possible lover, and for some hours every
/ body is poet. He experiences sensation
that the poets never have fully expressed,
and that he can not put into words, or even
into music. The song Of a bird swinging
on spra, Of apple blossoms comes nearest
TO expressing his emotion. 1t may not last
long, but while il does last j. is like taste
Of paradise. This is one of the compensa-
tions Of our climate. The people in the
tropics know nothing Of this sensation
They are not born again annually. They
know nothing Of the JOY IN contrast and
change Consequently they produce no
poetry, no literature they invent nothing ;
they make no progress" And they are
not unhappy.
We should 20 forth to meet the spring, as
the poet says, with stout heart We have
had long rest from the innumerable in-
"ec's, from lht husN ny, ana tuc tNptctant
worr. We shall 90 forth to SOW, aud 10
fight All these enemies with new courage
Science Is on our side 70 name all these de-
stroyers Of our labors and our peace, ana TO
describe their habits. We feel 4 conscious
Tess Of superiority in this knowledge. There
ls An excitement in 'lking up again th- life
arrested for 50 many months. There is a
perennial charm in the colored Easter eggs,
although We know BY experience tina, they
viii no; nil hatch. Il lacS not matter Hope
is a thousand times better than fruiiion II
The spring everybody requests his mother to
wake and call him early Charles Duciiey
H'nrae,', an Harpers Magazine for .lprH.