CHAPTER XII 



THE REIGN OF THE IMMORTALS 



December 



'* The wind-flower and the violet they perished long ago, 

 And the briar-rose and the orchis died, amid the summer 



glow ; 

 But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood, 

 And the yellow sunflower by the brook, in autumn beauty 



stood, 

 Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the 



plague on men, 

 And the-brightness of their smile was gone from upland, 



glade, and glen," 



Winter and desolation are yoked together in our 

 thoughts ; snow-buried earth and leafless trees, that 

 is our mental picture of it. 01)servation, really see- 

 ing what is, will greatly modify this opinion. Let 

 us go out for a walk on a sunny day in late December. 

 A bit of forest near the sea in southern New Jersey 

 will be as good a place as any to study the winter 

 beauties of the woods. 



Five or six inches of snow lie on the open fields ; 

 in the forest the ground is less thickly covered. 

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