NH Troubadour May, 1945

WHETSTONES

by Madeleine Burch Cole

IN APPALACHIA

There are those that love the surging crowds,
Or roam a restless sea,
But the upland slope and tinkling bells
Are heaven enough for me.
There are those that need to whet their lance
Against a throbbing throng;
But the stone that whets my blade the best
Is a wood thrush and its song,
And the still, cool aisles of forest shade,
And a sapphire mountain lake
Where the doe and buck come down to drink
With the loon and lone wild drake

Apple blossom time in New Hampshire is usually at its height about the middle of May, varying somewhat according to altitude. Many of the most extensive orchards are in the Monadnock and Seacoast Regions. The purple lilac, New Hampshire’s official flower, which has been cultivated in the state since the time of Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth, usually blooms, appropriately, for Memorial Day. The Monadnock Region has announced that mountain laurel tours will be marked during the first part of June in the towns of Greenville, Wilton, New Ipswich, Mason, and Fitzwilliam.

NH Troubadour May, 1947