And, again, we went to the woods, and saw them breaking forth into leaf. For the leafing of the woods is a little later than the leafing of a tree which grows in the open. And I saw the seed-pods lifting on their dry stems, but they were few and the pods were empty; for the stems were brittle, that the weight of snow had broken them down, for the most part, and the birds had gleaned the seeds. But the dead leaves were fading into mould, out of which peeped a seedling, here and there; and the rotting logs were fast being covered with a coat of green--moss and the creeping vines were doing that. And I saw the birches, their tiny leaves like so many little green spangles--or so they looked until I came near. And the pines, too, had burst the buds, that every tip was a lighter green, with clusters of little needles that, here and there, still bore their caps of brown; but the oak buds were just bursting. I spoke to Old Goodwin. “There is much for a man to see here,” said I, “when he is retired--even in winter.” He laughed and made me no reply. And, yet again, there grow before my house--but within my hedge--two hawthorn trees. They are very mountains of trees, for hawthorns, and their tops are above the eaves of my house. I would not miss the time of blossoming of those two trees for aught; and one of them has white blossoms and the other has pink. And the time came for them to blossom, and so they did, for they are well behaved trees as any could wish; and on the one side of my front walk was a mass of white blossoms, and on the other side a mass of pink. Solid banks of blossoms they were, with a green leaf showing through here and there, even to the tips of the trees. I found Old Goodwin viewing them from the road. And it was come to be the last week in May. And, though I found him gazing at my trees--I have a pride in them, which may be pardoned--I said not much. “There is much for a man to see, here and there,” I said, “when he is retired.” And once more he laughed, but he made me a reply to this. “True enough, Adam,” he answered, “true enough. There is enough for a man to see--and I think there is enough for him to do.”