JANUARY. 



9 



of to-morrow, a sad little squalid crew around 

 her, who, instead of pleasures and pastimes, 

 know only wants and evils which dwarf both 

 body and soul. Where, perhaps, illness has 

 superadded its aggravations, its pains and lan- 

 guors to a poverty which renders the comforts 

 and indulgences of a sick room the most hope- 

 less of all things. These are the speculations to 

 enhance our fireside pleasures, and to make 

 those pleasures fruitful; linking our sympa- 

 thies to the joys and sorrows of our kind, and 

 arousing us to a course of active benevolence. 



To proceed, however, to the varieties of win- 

 try weather, this month more than all others 

 shows us 



THE CONTINUED FROST A frost that, day 

 after day, and week after week, makes a steady 

 abode with us, till the beaten roads become 

 dusty as in summer. It every day penetrates 

 deeper into the earth, and farther into our 

 houses ; almost verifying the common saying, 

 " January will freeze the pot upon the fire." 

 Our windows in the morning are covered with 

 a fine opaque frost-work, resembling the leaves 

 and branches of forest-trees, and the water is 

 frozen in the ewer. The small birds are hop- 



