358 WOOD-SCENERY IN WINTER. 



these changes are completed ; we resume our cheerfulness, 

 and look forward in pleasant anticipation of spring. I have 

 never allowed the winter to interfere with my rambling, 

 save when the cold was intense, the weather wet or stormy, 

 or the snow too deep for pedestrian excursions. These diffi- 

 culties are seldom in the way for more than a fourth part 

 of the season. When the snow has been hardened by 

 repeated freezing and thawing so as to bear our footsteps, 

 or when the ground is bare, a winter walk affords positive 

 pleasure. At such times I have often passed a day in the 

 woods, not only to enjoy the physical pleasure of air and 

 exercise and the sweet odors of the pines, but also to note 

 the changes in the face of nature, and the manners and 

 habits of the few remaining birds and quadrupeds. 



One of the most noted circumstances attending a win- 

 ter ramble in the woods is their silence. But this silence 

 is an aid to thought as well as observation, and gives im- 

 portance to every sound, as the white snow gives promi- 

 nence to visual objects. "When the winter sun is bright 

 and the chilly atmosphere is calm, we may listen to 

 the distant village hum with a sensation of melody ; and 

 we catch the gurgling sounds of streams under the glisten- 

 ing ice, and the voices of jubilant echoes, that send back 

 in the general stillness every sound that penetrates their 

 secret shell. The crumpling of the hardened snow under 

 our feet produces a tone that silence alone could turn 

 to music ; and the rustling of every zephyr seems like 

 a living note in this solitude. The occasional voices of 

 winter birds have a charm hardly less delightful than the 

 melodies of June, when every note is but the part of a 

 general chorus. In winter we listen to sounds because 

 they are few. Even the lowing of herds is musical, re- 

 minding us that our present solitude is encompassed by 

 life and civilization. 



The wood is no longer a green recess, a temple of leafy 



