DECEMBER OUT-OF-DOORS. 37 
record, — “Everybody complaining of the 
heat;’’ but as terrestrial matters go, the 
month was remarkably propitious up to the 
25th. Then, all without warning, — unless 
possibly from the pimpernel, which nobody 
heeded, —a violent snow-storm descended 
upon us. Railway travel and telegraphic 
communication were seriously interrupted, 
while from up and down the coast came 
stories of shipwreck and loss of life. Win- 
ter was here in earnest; for the next three 
months good walking days would be few. 
December opened with a mild gray morn- 
ing. The snow had already disappeared, 
leaving only the remains of a drift here and 
there in the lee of a stone-wall; the ground 
was saturated with water; every meadow 
was like a lake; and but for the greenness 
of the fields in a few favored spots, the sea- 
son might have been late March instead of 
early December. Of course such hours 
were never meant to be wasted within doors. 
So I started out, singing as I went, — 
“ While God invites, how blest the day! ”’ 
But the next morning was pleasant likewise ; 
and the next; and still the next; and so the 
