In New England Fields and Woods by Rowland E. Robinson
Chapter 1 THE NAMELESS SEASON
In the March page of our almanac, opposite the 20th of the month we find the bold assertion, "Now spring begins;" but in the northern part of New England, for which this almanac was especially compiled, the weather does not bear out the statement.
The snow may be gone from the fields except in grimy drifts, in hollows and along fences and woodsides; but there is scarcely a sign of spring in the nakedness of pasture, meadow, and ploughed land, now more dreary in the dun desolation of lifeless grass, débris of stacks, and black furrows than when the first snow covered the lingering greenness of December.
It is quite as likely that the open lands are still under the worn and dusty blanket of snow, smirched with all the litter cast upon it by cross-lot-faring teams, and wintry winds blowing for months from every quarter. The same untidiness pervades all outdoors. We could never believe that so many odds and ends could have been thrown out of doors helter-skelter, in three months of ordinary life, till the proof confronts us on the surface of the subsiding snow or lies stranded on the bare earth. The wind comes with an icier breath from the wintrier north, and yet blows untempered from the south, over fields by turns frozen and sodden, through which the swollen brooks rush in yellow torrents with sullen monotonous complaint.
One may get more comfort in the woods, though the snow still lies deep in their shelter; for here may be found the sugar-maker's camp, with its mixed odors of pungent smoke and saccharine steam, its wide environment of dripping spouts and tinkling tin buckets, signs that at last the pulse of the trees is stirred by a subtle promise of returning spring.
The coarse-grained snow is strewn thickly with shards of bark that the trees have sloughed in their long hibernation, with shreds and tatters of their tempest-torn branches. But all this litter does not offend the eye nor look out of place, like that which is scattered in fields and about homesteads. When this three months' downfall of fragments sinks to the carpet of flattened leaves, it will be at one with it, an inwoven pattern, as comely as the shifting mesh of browner shadows that trunks and branches weave between the splashes of sunshine. Among these is a garnishment of green moss patches and fronds of perennial ferns which tell of life that the stress of winter could not overcome. One may discover, amid the purple lobes of the squirrelcup leaves, downy buds that promise blossoms, and others, callower, but of like promise, under the rusty links of the arbutus chain.
One hears the resonant call of a woodpecker rattled out on a seasoned branch or hollow stub, and may catch the muffled beat of the partridge's drum, silent since the dreamy days of Indian summer, now throbbing again in slow and accelerated pulsations of evasive sound through the unroofed arches of the woodlands. And one may hear, wondering where the poor vagrants find food and water, the wild clangor of the geese trumpeting their aerial northward march, and the quick whistle of the wild duck's pinions,-hear the carol of an untimely bluebird and the disconsolate yelp of a robin; but yet it is not spring.
Presently comes a great downfall of snow, making the earth beautiful again with a whiteness outshining that of the winter that is past. The damp flakes cling to every surface, and clothe wall, fence and tree, field and forest, with a more radiant mantle than the dusty snow and slanted sunshine of winter gave them.
There is nothing hopeful of spring but a few meagre signs, and the tradition that spring has always come heretofore.
It is not winter, it is not spring, but a season with an individuality as marked as either, yet without a name.
* * *
Chapter 1 THE NAMELESS SEASON
06/12/2017
Chapter 2 MARCH DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 3 THE HOME FIRESIDE
06/12/2017
Chapter 4 THE CROW
06/12/2017
Chapter 5 THE MINK
06/12/2017
Chapter 6 APRIL DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 7 THE WOODCHUCK
06/12/2017
Chapter 8 THE CHIPMUNK
06/12/2017
Chapter 9 SPRING SHOOTING
06/12/2017
Chapter 10 THE GARTER-SNAKE
06/12/2017
Chapter 11 THE TOAD
06/12/2017
Chapter 12 MAY DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 13 THE BOBOLINK
06/12/2017
Chapter 14 THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER
06/12/2017
Chapter 15 JUNE DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 16 THE BULLFROG
06/12/2017
Chapter 17 No.17
06/12/2017
Chapter 18 No.18
06/12/2017
Chapter 19 No.19
06/12/2017
Chapter 20 No.20
06/12/2017
Chapter 21 FARMERS AND FIELD SPORTS
06/12/2017
Chapter 22 TO A TRESPASS SIGN
06/12/2017
Chapter 23 A GENTLE SPORTSMAN
06/12/2017
Chapter 24 JULY DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 25 CAMPING OUT
06/12/2017
Chapter 26 THE CAMP-FIRE
06/12/2017
Chapter 27 A RAINY DAY IN CAMP
06/12/2017
Chapter 28 AUGUST DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 29 A VOYAGE IN THE DARK
06/12/2017
Chapter 30 THE SUMMER CAMP-FIRE
06/12/2017
Chapter 31 THE RACCOON
06/12/2017
Chapter 32 THE RELUCTANT CAMP-FIRE
06/12/2017
Chapter 33 SEPTEMBER DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 34 A PLEA FOR THE UNPROTECTED
06/12/2017
Chapter 35 THE SKUNK
06/12/2017
Chapter 36 A CAMP-FIRE RUN WILD
06/12/2017
Chapter 37 THE DEAD CAMP-FIRE
06/12/2017
Chapter 38 OCTOBER DAYS
06/12/2017
Chapter 39 A COMMON EXPERIENCE
06/12/2017
Chapter 40 THE RED SQUIRREL
06/12/2017
Other books by Rowland E. Robinson
More