iw|iM ■■■■ i.M»ji]ij , 1,1 u J i u I ittnfnrmamwifmmnfm *)penpwn)«< LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE IDYLLS OF THE YEAR ■.■■( IDYLLS OF THE YEAR BY BASIL ANDERTON, M.A. Atithor of Fragrance among Old Volumes." O. ANACKER Ltd. SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. MCMXn. TO MY W^IFE WHO KNOWS AND LOVES THE COLOURS OF THE COUNTRY ANUARY has shown, in epitome, many of the aspe<5ts of the long ne^v year. Frosts have been succeeded by balmy sunshine, snoAv by brown mud, w^ild w^inds from the w^est by soft southern airs, inert mist by squalls of rain and of biting sleet. There have been setting suns of richly changeful splendour, and great yellow^ moons that, as they rose, contradled to a silvery brilliance. From the month's variety two days may linger aw^hile in the memory. Snow^ had fallen one night, and in the morning, looking down upon it, the eye ranged near and far over its w^hiteness. In the foreground, \vhere the shadow^ of the neighbour- ing houses fell, it was just tinged with blue. Across the road the branches of trees show^ed black and definite, beyond their wont. Then came the open expanse, ^vith the nearer rigs and furrows vanishing from sight in the sweep of the rising ground. The blue -grey of the shadows in C7] the furrow - bottoms, and the pink which, from a sunrise cloud, just tinged the rigs, merged further off into a light -filled, delicate tone of dull yellow^. In the distance, banks of trees showed black, and white- roofed clusters of houses had w^alls of dark grey or of red. These gave the only strong and assured colour in w^hat was else a wide harmony of ethereal tints. The sky just over the horizon was of palest yellow^ and green ; then came a few^ hazy clouds of dull yellow^, and above all the light blue of the clear upper air. Next night the air grew warmer, and by the morning the w^hite snow^- mantle was gone, save that a hundred shreds and patches of it still lay in the dips and hollows of the open land. But the rising wind, out of the mild south at first, scattered even these shreds. Veering then to the west, it grew steadily in volume. It came hurtling and singing noisily through the tree-barriers that fringed the road as one fared northw^ards, plunging and leaping upon one at every brief gap. Routing out dead leaves by fifties and hundreds, whether from [8] quiet lurking-holes or from branches one had thought long stripped bare, it set them whirling and eddying over the roadway. 'When one turned aslant on to the open moorland, leav- ing behind the shrill screaming of the w^ires overhead and the dull half- music of the grinding tree-branches, forthwith it had one in its clutches : one must bend down sideways against it, forcing a devious path through its opposition. At first its rush was a little broken by the slope of the ground; but beyond that it surged up with a renew^ed freedom and a madder joy. Then one faced into the very heart of it, from lust of its battle-play, fighting with it step after step, still plodding slowly for- ward, till at last the sheltering houses were reached and breath could be dra^vn at quiet ease once more. [9] FEBRUARY. MIDST renewed "wintry scenes by day, or when w^alking through white moonlight over w^ide- spread snow^, it is pleasant to recall the promise of coming spring w^hich certain days of February had brought. These days had draw^n one afield once more to know^n haunts in far country lanes, and to fresh ram- blings and investigations. There is a quiet country road that runs for two miles or so, up and dow^n, along the w^ide river's northern bank. Here the warm sun, in w^elcome con- strast to the chilly south-east wind at your back, shines and flashes on the blue w^ater dow^n on the left. It is as though spring were before you, yet w^inter still at your heels. As the river comes curving from w^est and south you have long reaches of bril- liant light. The steep sandy banks on your right are in the main grey and yellow^ and brow^n w^ith bare w^intry trees, w^ith dead trailing grass, w^ith clear patches of sand pierced by many [10] a black rabbit-burrow. Beech leaves add their vivid red and brown. Green bushes also and green trees are not w^anting, to blend into the prevailing tints ; for there are gorse and broom, there are blue -green fir trees and lus- trous holly and ivy. Anon you find, aslant over the water, a dead trunk thickly grow^n with ivy; and you stand and listen gladly once more to the music of rustling leaves. There will be ere long many leaves a-w^hispering, instead of the fevsr only that winter has not availed to silence. In the gardens of a few^ wray-side cottages yellow crocuses are appearing, aglow^ with life amid the snow-drops' pale senior- ity ; and even a luckless primrose has ventured into an unready world. Leaving the river behind you, you w^ill climb the long slope of the valley, past dark ploughed lands and yellow^- grey grass fields, past brown hedges spotted with green buds, till you reach the highway running west. Mean- while a slow grey mist has been creep- ing forward : the sun transmutes it into pale ethereal gold. But the gold fades, and the horizon and the lower sky grow^ vague and chill. The colour [11] that was spread abroad seems now recalled within the sun itself, which, as it sinks further into the whitening sea of mist, turns from gold to orange, from orange to red, and then almost to blood red. Thus you will see it through a fine lace -like tracery of branches as you pass a thicket of silver birches. Then the mist swal- lows up the sun, and the silent road and the fields grow white and still. Yet even now, w^hen it would seem that winter's clutch o' the w^orld is again secure, the new-welling life of springtide re -asserts itself. In this nearest field are a couple of sheep grazing, each with two busy lambs that now nibble a little grass, and now are vehement for milk, with tails a-w^riggle. Elsewhere, and on other days, the like contrast of old and new may be watched. You stand beside a wide stretch of heather, its purple-brow^n just deepened by the fading rays of the mist-baffled sun. Beyond the heather all colour is gone: grey mists reach far and wide, interse<5led only by the hedges that mark off field after field. In the distance a low hill of elfin still- [12] ness and pallor is crowned by a few lonely trees. Yet, if you look atten- tively, you w^ill find red buds and brown, green buds and black, on the different trees and bushes near at hand. The air itself, too, a brief hour ago, was fragrant with the subtle per- fume of spring. [13] ARCH, the last-born son of winter and the de- stined sire of spring, comes rushing in on the wings of the storm to claim his heritage. As his triple largess he scatters abroad snow^, and sleet, and rain — gifts which, in earth's ancient eco- nomy, shall avail to harden and to nourish the on-coming plants and the bourgeoning trees. A tireless hunts- man, he w^ill in madcap humour round up great flocks of sea-gulls on the coast, and w^ill lash them merrily on with sleet and biting winds, driv- ing them a score or so of miles inland, till some new^ w^him takes him and he leaves them to seek their food on the unwonted grounds. Soon, w^ith a gent- ler impishness, he sets adrift on a slow^ persistent w^ind myriads of tiny snoAV- flakes. At first, so softly do they come pattering on one's face, they are hard- ly felt, but little by little they set one tingling and aching w^ith their true bitter cold. Sw^eeping aside the snow^- flakes then, and opening the sky, he exults and laughs in the dazzling [I4J radiance of sun, and white clouds, and silver-gleaming pools, and brilliant earth. Anon his mood changes again, and his aspedt grows lowering. For whole long days he w^ill have sombre skies, and gloomy air, and rain. But by the 2oth he is once more joyful— there is in his eyes the love -light of ap- proaching parentage. The dull clouds of his gloom are packed away into the far north-east, the skies grow blue, the sun-filled earth is a-throb with ex- pectant joy, and soft ministering airs from the south-west hover to and fro. So the mystic birth of spring is at its season accomplished. Thereafter March w^ill linger for a while and play vi^ith his child; and many mad gambols will they have together. They will watch a great herd of cows troop out to pasture: forth- w^ith they will be upon them, and w^ill set them all running at the jog- trot, kicking, curvetting, stopping to smell things, butting one another, the stronger forcing the w^eaker backAvith locked horns, chivying one another to and fro in bulky skittishness. Amid such merry sports he will w^atch his little lass growing apace. Then, that [15] she may thrive the more, he will sweeten the earth and all the air w^ith long cleansing rain. He will give her, as playthings and companions, the plumping buds, the fresh-opening flowers, and the birds that whistle and chatter and flute to one another. And so at the last, w^hen his appointed hour is come and he must needs depart, he w^ill again summon his mighty w^inged steeds, and w^ith a sombre austerity go forth to join his great brotherhood of the months 'that are no more.' [i6] PRIL has brought us days of sunshine holi- day and many a fair blue sky. Larks have caroled merrily, buds have pushed on apace, and the grass has slow- ly turned to that green which is the very colour of hope, they say, and of fresh vitality. Out in the west, in the light of the forenoon, the long sloping banks of the spacious river- valley roll aw^ay into sapphire distances. As one stands on a low^ stone bridge, looking up the river, the dense w^oods on either hand are still brow^n ; the w^ide-spreading w^ater itself, as its rippling surface refle<5ts the blue of the sky and the brow^n of the trunks and branches, is of a rich purple. Yet in the midst of the month's first glamour and sunshine there lurks a spirit of mischief and of young fro- w^ardness. Cold winds run hither and thither, up and down the cross-roads and along the channels of streams. Alack for the man who, his youth left behind him, yet he fallen in sudden love w^ith April, w^ould fain enjoy her [17] golden humour-who looks to find an ever-smiling Avelcome from her, and knows not that fair winds oft prove but sorry cheats.