THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



37i 



loving creature he is! After eating 

 his Mil he will take a whole cracker 

 in his teeth and scamper away to his 

 home — probably in the trunk of a de- 

 cayed tree. One who studies these 

 little wild neighbors closely cannot fail 

 to discover that in many ways they 

 are very much like "folks." 



There are the sleigh rides over the 

 hills, sometimes with the mercury be- 

 low zero; but with plenty of furs and 

 warm soapstones one does not mind 

 the cold. One brilliant afternoon, a 

 party of fifteen, in a large sleigh drawn 

 by strong horses, drove a distance of 

 three miles to a lumber camp in Cor- 

 bin's Park. We followed the "logging 

 road" across pastures and through pine 

 woods where the trees were loaded 

 with snow. What views we had of 

 snow covered mountains ! Reaching 

 the camp we left our horses and 

 climbed three quarters of a mile up the 

 mountain side, sometimes falling on the 

 slippery path and sliding downward 

 until rescued and helped upward amid 

 the shouts and laughter of the more 

 fortunate ones who had reached the 

 summit. Here we saw another high 

 mountain towering above us. Down 

 its steep side is a chute used for bring- 

 ing trees cut on the top of the 

 mountain down into the valley. This 

 chute is built of logs, and is seven hun- 

 dred feet long and four feet wide. It 

 requires about eight seconds for a tree 

 to descend. The trees are "pushed off," 

 and it is frightful to see them come 

 dashing down the chute, with a noise 

 like heavy thunder, and rush some dis- 

 tance across the plain, throwing the 

 snow high in the air. 



We reached the hilltop overlooking 

 our little village just as the golden 

 sunset light was flooding it with bright- 

 ness, and were reminded of the words 

 of a stranger upon his first entrance 

 into our peaceful village : 



"It seems to me Grantham has 

 neither entrance or exit, but that the 

 people just flew over the mountains 

 and settled down in this quiet valley." 



Kate A. Jones. 



Woods in Winter. 



BY EMMA I'KlKc K, \i;w YORK CITY. 



Not alone in summer weather, 

 When bees and blossoms flock together, 

 When birds are nesting in the trees, 

 And odors sweet come down the breeze, 

 Not alone on sultry days. 

 To flee the sun's too ardent rays, 

 Are woods beneficent to men ; 

 But in the winter season, when 

 Snow hides the needles of the pine, 

 And clings to boles, a winter vine, 

 Spreads ermine carpet o'er the green 

 Pit for the tread of Nature's queen. 

 No life is found, of flower or bird. 

 No faintest whispering is heard, 

 .A hush is over everything 

 That waits' the magic of the spring; 

 But purity and peace are there 

 And in our hearts an unbreathed prayer. 



A great Cause, backed by persist- 

 ence and faith, shall succeed. 



The Race of the Leaves. 



It was small tyranny for a respec- 

 table wind to go wreaking its venge- 

 ance on such poor creatures as the fal- 

 len leaves, but this wind happening to 

 come up with a great heap of them just 

 after venting its humor on the insulted 

 Dragon, did so disperse and scatter 

 them that they fled away, pell-mell, 

 some here, some there, rolling over 

 each other, whirling round and round 

 upon their thin edges, taking frantic 

 flights into the air, and playing all man- 

 ner of extraordinary gambols in the ex- 

 tremity of their distress. Nor was this 

 enough for its malicious fury; for not 

 content with driving them abroad, it 

 charged small parties of them and hunt- 

 ed them into the wheelwright's saw-pit, 

 and below the planks and timbers in the 

 yard, and scattering the sawdust in the 

 air, it looked for them underneath, and 

 when it did meet with any, whew ! how 

 it drove them on and followed at their 

 heels. 



The scared leaves only flew the faster 

 for all this, and a giddy chase it was ; 

 for they got into unfrequented places, 

 where there was no outlet, and where 

 their pursuer kept them eddying round 

 and round at his pleasure; and they 

 crept under the eaves of houses, and 

 clung tightly to the sides of hay-ricks, 

 like bats ; and tore in at open chamber 

 windows, and cowered close to hedges ; 

 and in short went anywhere for safety. 



—Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit." 



