, 1889-05-29
TURNING NEW LEAVES.
THOUGHTS ON NATURES AND MANS
WAYS OF DOING 1T.

The Leaves in the Books of Nature Wen
thing wrong-sroraIiring on n Spring
DsrFour Perfect Things In Nature.
How many beautiful ideas ore framed into
language and float all about from somewhere
up the stream Of time Why did some ono
call the thin laminp of paper which mako up
a book, leavesI Indeed, 1t WINS a pretty
thought, for how like the leaves thoy are,
thin, fragile, perishable; and nowadays
there are almost as many Of one kind of
leaves as Of the other. Yes, and as for kinds
and styles there are almost as many In books
as on tho trees, but are there any 50 witty
and wtsei II you viii make a study of the
l~eaves-that Is, the book of nature-you will
SEQ they are marvelously well written upon
And you will not find one that Ia not illus
trated with finer art than even adorns the
pages Of our art books. See how well cut
are the edges, and enameled, which is better
than gilded- Some one has said If we could
live as long as Mothuselnh we should not DO
able to find out all there Is to be learned
from a single rose leaf. That Is moro than
we can say of our book leaves, although /
know some that seem to be nearly as good as
rose leaves.
LEAVES IN OUR LIVES
well, well, 4" said John, as we sat down to
tho breakfast table this morning, 1--WE must
all turn over new leaves today.n TITS an
old saying, father" / answered, "but tell mo
why we should turn a leaf today more than
any other day." ''Truly, 1 do not know
said John. ~ suppos If ono lives rightly,
there Is enough In each day to fill a leaf with
good things, and then ono may turn it over
in the morning. But If It be bad, then one
hol hnkNa~ 80 fN 1..& - a. ~
said l. lone cannot do that, and there is
where tho likeness fails, for wo can pick off
the trees n worm eaten leaf, but In the life
book 1t must stay forever" SIT is curious,n
said John, that one can never forget. Only
Inst night, In n dream, l recalled events to
the utmost minutip, that l have not thought
Of in my.waking hours for twenty years, and
| cannot now possibly by force Of purpose
bring It back so fully and clearly. But l did
IL In my sleep, and shall no doubt do 1t again.
What a terrible thing it would be to live for
ever in a bad d-ream-never wake up, but
never cease to dream on-recalling and re-
hearsing tho evil one has done.n
"But, papa" said Ned, ''you ave never
dono anything bad, you know-so whats tho
use of talking about itr' Now, John, Jr.,
has great faith In me-, but Ned has boundless
faith in his father. The blessed fnnocontsl
but / am glad 1t Is SO; for IL not life would be
a desert to US who sec and know our faults.
So / said, Eyes, John, l think we will all
turn over new leaves today. 1t is the first
day of spring and nature Is already OF work
with her 10y leaves. She viii not turn them
over only, but will mako them outright, and
swing thom high, and fill them up rs they
grow. And then we must not forget that as
soon as leaves begin to get largo enough for
the wind to turn them over, there will also
DO blossoms, and with blossoms sweetness
and wholesomeness.n "And there will be
fruit also In duo time" added John, 'if some
thing do not interfere. So Isuppose our now
leaves must not be quito like book leaves, but
moro like apple leaves But there Is great
difference In fruits"
OUT IN THE FIELDS AND FOREST.
But 1 do not like moralizing, especially of
the old Hannah More sort, because there is
no end to 1t any more than there is to a spi-
doris web, so l proposed that wo finish our
eating and go out and see nature at her work.
What can DO finer than q spring day that is
full of premouition and preliminaries7 1t was
not yet May by any means, but it WINS q May
day-soft and wnrm-but above oil unutter-
ably quiet Did it ever occur to you that on
some days Nature herself Is l~istening-per-
hnps trying to hear her own pulse beati The
Gins and soft naples wero shaking out their
infinite plenitude of blossoms, and the Eng
lish elms looked Us If covered with q great
crop of hops. ] wish these trees would turn
over a now leaf, for they begin the year
wrong end foremost.
They ripen a vast crop of seeds and fling
them down over oil the lawns, and all sum
mer they arc %sprouting and springing In
every nook and corner, and outside of all the
hooks, too. l said this to John, and no only
answered that If l could have my way there
would DO n funny world after awhile. Did
we not como out to turn over leaves and
amend thingsi To be suroi But l wish that
men would turn over n now leaf, and get rid
of their sarcasm and conceit. All, but what
splendid creatures they would be after awhile,
IL we only had the way of 1t and the making
of them.
Tho lilac is the finest shrub in the world.
1t has every good quality. 1t comes so very
early, Is loaded with blossoms, Is not only
sweet, but healthily sweet; Isl easily grown
as a thorn bush or nettle. / like a flower
that takes to the poor people and will grow
without extra care. That Is the lilac exnctly;
just what the geranium is In pots the lilac is
In our yards We sat down by the great
bushes of purple and white Persians, and
watched the young tufts of 1owers. There
were more flowers than Leaves and one or
two punches were just opening.
Fresh young grass, full of g~reenness and
dotted with blue ~violets, is fine, also, for the
same reason They belong to every one, and
are never stinted in neutrality-suspicious. grass
nor violets Then, overhead, should be, first
of all, apple trees. With grass, violets, IL
laos and apple trees spring is complete every
where. These do not need to turn over any
now leaves, by way of amendment They
are four Of the perfect things In nature
Mary Spencer in St Louis Globe emocrat.