Chapter XVIII . May Baskets Spring was late that year , but to Jill it seemed the loveliest she had ever known , for hope was growing green and strong in her own little heart , and all the world looked beautiful . With the help of the brace she could sit up for a short time every day , and when the air was mild enough she was warmly wrapped and allowed to look out at the open window into the garden , where the gold and purple crocuses were coming bravely up , and the snowdrops nodded their delicate heads as if calling to her , -- `` Good day , little sister , come out and play with us , for winter is over and spring is here . '' `` I wish I could ! '' thought Jill , as the soft wind kissed a tinge of color into her pale cheeks . `` Never mind , they have been shut up in a darker place than I for months , and had no fun at all ; I wo n't fret , but think about July and the seashore while I work . '' The job now in hand was May baskets , for it was the custom of the children to hang them on the doors of their friends the night before May-day ; and the girls had agreed to supply baskets if the boys would hunt for flowers , much the harder task of the two . Jill had more leisure as well as taste and skill than the other girls , so she amused herself with making a goodly store of pretty baskets of all shapes , sizes , and colors , quite confident that they would be filled , though not a flower had shown its head except a few hardy dandelions , and here and there a small cluster of saxifrage . The violets would not open their blue eyes till the sunshine was warmer , the columbines refused to dance with the boisterous east wind , the ferns kept themselves rolled up in their brown flannel jackets , and little Hepatica , with many another spring beauty , hid away in the woods , afraid to venture out , in spite of the eager welcome awaiting them . But the birds had come , punctual as ever , and the bluejays were screaming in the orchard , robins were perking up their heads and tails as they went house-hunting , purple finches in their little red hoods were feasting on the spruce buds , and the faithful chip birds chirped gayly on the grapevine trellis where they had lived all winter , warming their little gray breasts against the southern side of the house when the sun shone , and hiding under the evergreen boughs when the snow fell . `` That tree is a sort of bird 's hotel , '' said Jill , looking out at the tall spruce before her window , every spray now tipped with a soft green . `` They all go there to sleep and eat , and it has room for every one . It is green when other trees die , the wind ca n't break it , and the snow only makes it look prettier . It sings to me , and nods as if it knew I loved it . '' `` We might call it ` The Holly Tree Inn , ' as some of the cheap eating-houses for poor people are called in the city , as my holly bush grows at its foot for a sign . You can be the landlady , and feed your feathery customers every day , till the hard times are over , '' said Mrs. Minot , glad to see the child 's enjoyment of the outer world from which she had been shut so long . Jill liked the fancy , and gladly strewed crumbs on the window ledge for the chippies , who came confidingly to eat almost from her hand . She threw out grain for the handsome jays , the jaunty robins , and the neighbors ' doves , who came with soft flight to trip about on their pink feet , arching their shining necks as they cooed and pecked . Carrots and cabbage-leaves also flew out of the window for the marauding gray rabbit , last of all Jack 's half-dozen , who led him a weary life of it because they would not stay in the Bunny-house , but undermined the garden with their burrows , ate the neighbors ' plants , and refused to be caught till all but one ran away , to Jack 's great relief . This old fellow camped out for the winter , and seemed to get on very well among the cats and the hens , who shared their stores with him , and he might be seen at all hours of the day and night scampering about the place , or kicking up his heels by moonlight , for he was a desperate poacher .
Jill took great delight in her pretty pensioners , who soon learned to love `` The Holly Tree Inn , '' and to feel that the Bird Room held a caged comrade ; for , when it was too cold or wet to open the windows , the doves came and tapped at the pane , the chippies sat on the ledge in plump little bunches as if she were their sunshine , the jays called her in their shrill voices to ring the dinner-bell , and the XXXXX tilted on the spruce boughs where lunch was always to be had .
Bunny-house Jill XVIII before chippies crumbs dandelions night robins saxifrage