10 A.M.
The last Saturday of the month was looked forward to with hopeful expectations , as a genial earnest of May , and a chance for out-door pleasures ; but with it came a dismal rain-storm , which left the ground as cold , wet , and sodden as it had been a month before . The backward season , of which the whole country was now complaining , culminated on the following morning , which ushered in a day of remarkable vicissitude . By rapid transition the rain passed into sleet , then snow , which flurried down so rapidly that the land grew white and wintry , making it almost impossible to imagine that two months of spring had passed . By 10 A.M. the whirling flakes ceased , but a more sullen , leaden , March-like sky never lowered over a cold , dripping earth . On the north side of the house a white hyacinth was seen hanging its pendent blossoms half in and half out of the snow , and Alf , who in response to Dr. Marvin 's suggestion was following some of the family fortunes among the homes in the trees , came in and said that he had found nests well hidden by a covering all too cold , with the resolute mother bird protecting her eggs , although chilled , wet , and shivering herself . By 1 P.M. the clouds grew thin , rolled away , and disappeared . The sun broke out with a determined warmth and power , and the snow vanished like a spectre of the long-past winter .