But the oysters would be rejoicing
because of gaining respite from harvest, not singing their
own funeral dirge.

yeah, but....O Henry is listing the 'markers of spring' that are known by a city person... a city dwellwer is person singing the 'swan song' for the oysters! One last party with a plate of blue points-- the last one of the season!

the list is of other 'markers' that are definately 'city markers' of spring.

the lame goose survives in a small town pond- there are plenty of children to feed him, and the neatly mowed grass of the park, the density of people means its unlikely there is a fox nearby.... this lame goose wouldn't survive in the country.

i think also the point is being made that city living, always thought of as hectic, is, in some ways, more leasured than country living (especially farm life!) and city folk have the time to see these small subtle sign of spring!

connie might enjoy shooning in the woods and wilds of MI-- i remember the beautiful white cap of mushroom that poked its head up in a planter (it was almost hidden by an evergreen tree in the planter) outside of the trump plaza.

i don't know if it was edible.. but i think perfect little white cap mushrooms are a far rarer find than mushroom found in the woods. the signs of nature, the signs of the change of season are different in the city.. and treasured all the more!


my other obsession