Norwich bulletin., 1920-05-07
IT'S DOING WHAT WE CAN REGARDLESS OF
 OBSTACLES THAT MAKES FOR MANHOOD

sprifE as q ..sfe" WAS the spitefui ebulii- tI5h of BcfFse fenpseked rhytr,estsr who
 sneaked out behind the barn ana pen
 Alled on helpless white paper the sar-
 gasfp he didn.t dare put into words, in thA Kitchen. hssst |
 Especially during ',hausseisanine
 time r .s., 3.s.
 FrssA afs sIisne when ths farsf faist
 dawn of the nsH year tdeiades nsasiial-
 ly some time in ldRrch7iflto the belief Afhat Ne afe U have shfiflE At last, ali
 thf0Ngh the gar sss6ws of the rest
 sf that month and the soaking, soppHig,
 souring squalls and catspaws of April and the whit filing, Baffling,. frnst- threaten Ing yzgSfies 6E May. the average spring ts Co the average farmer a season of satch. as -cateh caii@aiid 6f iet-go whaa he's caught about four times out of every Lhree !-- It is a time of hope deferred which fnakefh fhs heart sick; a time oi sither ts5 much rain fof soil working, or too much Cold to warrant planting, oi too drying winds to permit seed -gern1ina. tisn. one spring, tips the buckets oi heaven upside down and spills theii drenching contents over the plow-ianda day after day and week after week, tif the due seedtime has passed forever and
 the farfner's best laid plans have all gont kkley Another spring dumps all thos;
 buckets over the North Pole or the cen. | tral Pacific, and his land blows into aria | dust in which his seeds can no more ger 1 thinatS th4h Iii the sands 6f fnfd-Sahara Another spfing starts of with a week oa tBanafner.y, Eifnshiny weather early il 7 April, followed by four to six weeks oi cold winds and ice.fnaking nights to kill ali the kindly hopss he had planted if that aeiusive false dawn. .a@ D. | This partaeoiar sprink, in my part ot l the country, has been something of [
 poaker. We thought, up here, that tn. spring of 1918 was about the wettest ans coldest and eotsFest and latest ever. Tfii
 season has Seen all that ,dsls did aior,j | that line and has gone 1t several point.
 wofse- Upsto May 1st we have had jus 1.-two days of decent grotnaiSwoflsin, weather. No cats are yet sowfi,; ii. ground is even plowed for them. A 1t | tie, very little, garden work may hay, been attempted, but, so far as real farm work is concerned; 1t is waiting. with Ii,
 Eieafn Of present hope showing over an. horizon. 7-a Ess v
 Ny windows face on three sides ,Fo 1 several weeks, now, my cfief occupation has been to gaze out of fhe west vii I AkV spI0sfy e1psnse of cold mud or out o | my south windows along the dirt road, :. It6rtuous maze of rain-flied fufs conceal 1 ing aAkik deep sink holes; Or out of ii. east Mihd5Ws on the moving lands aflkI deep iii almost ica-eold water Even tf grass. which usually welcomes wet, i slow to green and it's eoloring Is tinEe
 with a sickly and ashamed yellow ] A6aAtilAs the 1ain It fainsth avery asy
 sometimes all day, and sometimes o1i 1 three or four times a day. Shakespear once fehAAfked that "9Me spring can, 4 sfowIy up this way'' It Isn't ceriifi slowly up my way; it's coming down i buckets full and ponds fuil What Ii
 meant was. doubtless, the good old sun nertime. That, assuredly, is approach Il fng with great deiibefation, If, indeed
 It be heAded this way at all. r 4 sbfaetime; when | can afford ne } lead pencil and few sheets of paper, IT ! going to write some real spring poetry Here's little starter that I worked ot with much head scratching, the oths l day after we had been driven from ti } fields three times by the rain, and I ila nothing better to do. unless went to be Which did not seem the appropriate tFiir to do at 2.15 p. ff.:
 sl My soaking country, thee,
 Vt Land that I seldom see
 + Beneath the flood:
 il Down all thy reeking hills
 Fl -<Gpsh forty thousand rilis