Wallace Nutting illustrated this picture on page 12 of his 1912 Picture Sales catalog and on page 104 of his 1915 Expansible Sales catalog. Nutting also illustrated this picture in his 1923 book, Connecticut Beautiful, on page 143 of the first edition and on page 124 of the 1935 second edition.

In the early years, circa 1905, this picture was given the title "Blossom Brook" which describes the blossoming apple trees and the brook in the lower left of the scene with no attention paid to the sheep. This is understandable considering what Wallace Nutting wrote about the value of sheep in a photograph. He writes, "...a picture containing animals, is not so well liked as a picture of still life. There is an occasional exception in favor of a flock of sheep, when the sheep are not too numerous."

Sometime around 1905/10 he takes a different view of the photograph and gives it the title "New Life" representing the 'new life' of the blossoming trees and the sheep that each spring brings. The photograph, however, remains illustrated in the 'blossom' section of his sales catalogs, page 101 to page 140, and not moved to the 'sheep' section, page 701 to 704.

Wallace Nutting commissioned Mildred Hobbs to write the following poem for this photograph. In it he relates the view through his eye that the new life of May is a reminder of the new life his faith represents.

Earth wakens from her dream of death,
For in her ancient bosom hide
The rose tints of a new-born May,
And Earth is glorified!

She Weaves a gorgeous blossom-Cloak
For all the old and ragged trees,
And bids the leaflets on the elms
To dance upon the breeze.

She covers up her marks of age
With mossy banks and rivulets,
And young lambs gambol in her fields
Among the violets.

Are not the mysteries of May
But lovely symbols of the birth
Of One who spread the light of life
Upon a dying earth?

The Christ-child was a tender bud,
Unfolding in the light of dawn,
and bursting into perfect bloom
For all to gaze upon.

And Love broke through the crust of souls
And gave to earth a living stream
Where we, the flock, may quench our thirst
With happiness supreme.

Mildred Hobbs was born in the Boston, Massachusetts area and was a fairly well known poet from the turn of the century until her death in 1964. She penned several poems for Wallace Nutting to use in his States Beautiful books. New Life appears on page 142 of Connecticut Beautiful.