Herald & Lantern 19 lanuary '83

'

27

Can Spring Be Far Behind? EDITOR'S NOTE: This was R. Leslie Chrismer's last piece for 4he Herald and Lantern, written shortly before he died Christmas Eve. In it. he wrote of Ihe miracle of the continuity of nature, enduring despite the winter illusion of death. Mr Chrismer's obituary appeared in last week's Herald and Lantern.) "Beneath fields of whtie and rivers of ice and in the hard and frozen ground, life was waiting, confident, undespair ing Its activity was merely suspended The stillness, the seeming death of winter, is but an illusion " This is taken from "Wandering Through Winter" by Kdwin Way Teale <1899-1980), one of America's great literary naturalists, author of 30 books, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for literature and the John Burrough s Medal for distinguished nature writing "O Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind 9 " The answer to the familiar last line of Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" is a resounding "Of course not!" This year the Winter solstice. Which marks the shortest daylight of year, occurred Dec. 22 It is the day we say that Winter begins. We could just as well add. and Spring also, for the sun has reached its southern limit and henceforth it will be on its way back north (ONLY THK SUN really doesn't travel north and south. The earth not only revolves around the sun. it also turns around itself to cause day and night But for reasons which are unknown to astronomers, the earth tilts to a considerable degree as it turns around the sun and it is this extensive wobbling on its axis that makes the sun seem to move back and forth — (North and South) — and which causes the seasons One half of the year the northern hemisphere is tilted more directly toward the rays of the sun. One half of the year it is not The other half of the year the sout|)orn hemisohere enjoys this position. In January, as daylight begins to noticeably increase, we repeat the old maxim: "When the days begin to lengthen, then the cold begins to strengthen " But beneath the cold, life is strengthening, too Only we don't see it at the time We speak of how barren the landscape looks "in the dead of wrater " It would be better to say "the quiet of winter" for plant life at this time of the earth's turning and tilting is not dead, but dormant like the hibernating animals such as bears, woodchucks and turtles FOR EXAMPLE, plant scientists know that spring bulbs need a long period of winter's cold in which to undergo the stages of maturation necessary for spring growth The process can only be described in abstruse scientific terms — but the resultant flowering is a "miracle" for which there is no adequate expression of any kind — Scientific or literary In short, under Winter’s cold ^nd ice and snow, all plant life slowly and subtly continues to transform quiescent cells into resurgent ones We are not aware of the activity until we see the results In late January, just one month after the Winter solstice, there will be a pleasant reddening on the twigs of sugar maples even in the sub-zero climate of places like the Catskill Mountains iThoreau wondered who was alert enough to mark the first sign of Spring, that is. the instant it occurred The answer is "nobody " i One month later, by the end of February, the tips of those sugar maple twigs will be swollen with sap and squirrels will be nibbling them and sucking out the sweet liquid. BELOW THOSE little rodents in the tree tops, men will be sapping the tree trunks for the first maple sap to boil ^lown for the first maple syrup of the year In the same late period of February, the Skunk Cabbage will be pushing its tough spathe through the softening earth of our part of New Jersey to reveal its spadix of tiny flowers — our first Spring one. dainty m appearance but not in odor At the same time, crocuses will be blooming in ("ape May door-yards < A large patch will be found in the front lawn of a house almost opposite the post office, i By the time of the Spring equinox on March 22, when the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. New Jersey's State Flower, the blue viole^ will be seen along sidewalks of upper Washigton Street - and many other parts of Cape May IN APRIL, millions upon millions of the little suns we call dandelions will be brightening the local landscape, turning their cheerful yellow faces, as if in praise, toward their great golden parent in the sky At the same time. Cape May gardens will be glowing with the gaiety of daf fodils and tulips Early in May the faintly fragrant, delicately beautiful flowers of the Star of Bethlehem will be growing all over Ideals Remembered By John II. Andrus I was shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the Christmas Eve death of Leslie Chrismer. who over the past few years had shared with your readers some of his thoughts and those of writers he admired My friendship with this gentle man was much too short, but its brevity cannot diminish the lasting influence he will have on my own life To be in the company of this softspoken. kind, unpretentious soul was to witness understanding, beauty and love personified, and to be in fected by a human Spirit worthy of emulation In a person's lifetime, usually only a bare handful of people pass whose contribution to the betterment of self and mankind is evident, whose ideals are remembered and passed along, whose memory is lasting Leslie Chrismer was such an individual John H Andrus of Cold Sprina was editor of the Herald and Lantern for almost three years

our city — in gardeas, on lawas,- between curbs and sidewalks, everywhere — "continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way." as Wordsworth said of another flower in another country By the end of May. the Spring tide of flowers will be a deluge Nature slows down, but never stops. The writer likes to think of its continuity in the words of a verse he calls "Germinal:" Below the sod, beneath the bark. Silently, and in the dark All that outward shows in May Began within some yesterday The miracle of leaf and flower Is not the magic of the hour The hues of April's bright design Were woven in December's clime Below the sod. beneath the bark. Silently, and in the dark Ldng ago and patiently Began the life that Spring sets free The laws of Nature govern Men When growth appears in us again The outward sign of life's new May Began within, some yesterday --R Leslie Chrismer

In Private Niche Snowdrops Flourish

By Clare Campbell Our precioas Snowdrops are blooming again They begin showing their pure white pearls in December I think they want us to have them for Christmas Sometimes it seems they are running a race wrtjioi^Winter Jasmine, but rm flbwcrs are not competitive Each is content to stand on its own roots or e n r m s or bulbs or rhyzomes. with no desire to be first, trying to rate a ten How wonderful to tie like that' We humans are urged almost from the cradle to compete, lie Number One. surpass everybody else and, having been condition ed to that, it takes us most of our lifetime to disregard that silly urge It's a comfortable feel mg, though, when we have To acquire the peace that can be ours by paddling our own canoe, but doing it leisurely, cohtent to do things, as the sung says "My Way." letting all others do the same. LET THOSE who will pile up the gold, win the trophies, take the bows and bask in temoprary adulation. The sweetest more permanent satisfaction is at

tamed by considering out Snowdrops They understand the cold, the ice, the snow\ but, happy in their own private niche under our Mulberry and Dogwood, they flourish With apparent faith that the God who designed them is all they need to acquire their opalescent loveliness for all who choose to see it. they glow and smile We will never lie able to match their pristine beau ty. we can strive to emulate their happy disposition Clare Campbell, a free lance writer and poet, writes for Ocean View

SNOWDROP

Boro Backs Toll Rte. 55

STONE HARBOR - Mayor Arden Hand and members of council have phssed a resolution going on record as being in full support of the completion of Rte 55 by the creation of a South Jersey Throughway Authority to complete the construction and operate the route as a toll road It is believed that Rte, 55 should be complete in order to provide direct access to

Cape May County from Phil'adelphia and in order to reduce'traffic accidents presently occurring in substantial numbers on Routes 47 and 40. Copies of the resolution were sent to the speaker,of the Assembly, the presi dent of the State Senate." Gov Thomas Kean. Sen J a m e s Hurl e y . Assemblymen Joseph Chinnici and Guy Musiam

Good Reading by Owen Murphy

(All of the books review ed in this column are available at the Cape May (.’aunty Library ) THE JOURNAL OF ANA IS NIN By Anais Nln Although Anais <Anna neece) Nin was the author of a dozen or more books, she will undoubtedly be remembered for her fascinating journal Most people come away from them wishing she had written twelve or twenty volumes instead of only seven The journals are filled with accounts of the brilliant people who were part of her life in the Paris of the 30s, and Greenwich Village in New York during the 40s. 50s, and 60s. but the heart of the journals arc Miss Nm’s incisive and aware observations about every aspect of life. All of the following quotations arc by the author. Anais Nin We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we long for, need,, love or desire, often against reality, against their benefit, and always m the end a disappointment because it does

not fit them There is no end to a man’s needs He needs faith, indulgence, humour, he needs worship, good cooking, mended socks, errands, a hostess, a mistress, a mother, a sister, a secretary, a friend He needs to be the only one in the world Each friend represents a world in us. a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born There were always in me two women at least One woman desperate and bewildered who felt she was drowning, and another who would leap into a scene as upon a stage, conceal her true emotions because they were weaknesses, helplessness, despair, and present to the world only a smile, an eagerness, curiosity, enthusiasm, interest ^ You give your faith, your love, your body to someone year after year, and within this human being lies a self who docs not know you.

does not understand, and is driven by motives even he cannot decipher In one ins lant. all that was created between you. every word said in trust, every caress, every link as clear to you as a piece of architecture, •an architecture born of feeling, of mutual work, of memories, is swept away by some inner distortion, a twisted vision, a misinterpretation. a myth, q childhood being relived Maturity is first the shed ding of what you are not, and then the balancing of what you are in relation to the human being you love, and allowing the selves of that person which are not related to you to exist in dependently outside of the relationship What kills life is the absence of mystery There arc so many things lying within one. potential, unconscious, that if you are acting a role and this role corresponds to a dormant self, this self awakens, becomes reality But if you act a false role, something entirely outside »of one's self, you get sick, uneasy

The drama o/ woman's development is, very pain ful. for in each case the man seems to punish all growth So the woman in tent on ‘growth chooses a yielding, passive man who will not interfere "'ith this growth, with her evolulidn But in the end, his weakness destroys her We can never understand why people love each other because, to the lover, they show a side we do not know It is the lover who operates a transformation and it is to this lover wc give our fullesCself, our fullest gifts We outsiders never see the enlarged human being who appears in the sp<itlight of an.intense love. Ltfc. for me, is a pro fopOd. a sacred, a joyous, a mysterious, a soulful ddntfe Hut it is a dance