Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-03

Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett in ST. Nicholas
Early in April one looks up and down streets
and avenues, through lines of delicate pale
greenness. Little black or yellow boys begin
to appear with punches Of arbutus tied tightly
together, and offered for sale at ten cents each.
On the mounds about the statues in the circles
there are beds Of crocuses. which later change
by magic into tulips and hyacinths and adora-
BILE things that fill the air with perfume.
As the days go on the greenuess grows and
grows. and it is so fresh and exquisite that one
becomes intoxicated with the mere seeing and
breathing 80 much of the life of spring, and
can think OF nothing else. People who go out
to walk compare the leaves the different
thoroughfares, and return to talk about til, H.
"Are the iindens n little slow this year?' one
says, 'or are the tulip trees always earlier?
They are beginning to be quite full ON 10th
street.
In the grass near the railing surrounding the
grounds of the White House, purple and yellow
crocuses seem to spring up wild. They look AS
if they belonged to the woods.
Soon the little colored boys have larger
punches Of arbu,us and punches of wild vioiets
and pale blue starry things. They have gath
cred them i'll the woods about Rock creek. The
sun grows warmer, the rain that comes Is de-
licious; there are more and more leaves on
every side; in the parks there are hyacinths
and crocuses and scarlet japonicas and ne
things making buds for blossoms on trees one
does not expect flowers from. Aud then some
morning somehow railways seems quite sud-
denly-people. getting up, look out of their
windows. and all the world is spring, the very
spring itself. From second or third story
one looks down upon forest-not city, but a
forest. 1t would be easy to pretend that it was
an enchanted forest which some fairy had
caused to flourish in the midst of q city, or an
enchanted city which had been made to arise
within the labyrinths of a forest Trees are
tah.
it is to look down vistas Of them-broad, beau
tiful vstas whose straight lengths seem to close
in fresh, luXuriant greenery. In the narrower
streets the branches almost spread from side to
side, and one walks under an archway of leaves
1t seems almost impossible to believe that
one is In a town. The plan Of the city gives 80
many vistas of green. person standing in
one of the circles in the center u statue
with flower beds brilliant at its base. From
east to west this circle is crossed by one Of the
streets whose names are the letters of the al
phabet from north to south by one of those
whose names are numbers diagoAally it is
crossed by avenues bearing the names of states
and as each Of these Is bordered by one or two
rows of trees-frOm east to west, from north to
south and diagonally-the eyes follow the course
OF groves of linden, maple, tulip, sycamore OF
poplar.
Within short distances of each other are the
bower-like squares which contain such blossom
ing as one seems to see nowhere else. 1t is not
merely q matter of planted flowers or blooming
shrubs. There are trees loaded with blossoms
, They arc not fruit trees, but trees which bear
burdens of flowers which seem. some of them
like specially sumptuous full-petalcd apple OF
plum or peach blossom, or splendid kind Of
English may.