JANUARY. 



13 



destruction, it is only surprising that the race 

 is not extirpated. 



One of the pleasures of frosty weather will 

 be found in walking. The clear and bracing 

 air invigorates the frame ; exercise gives a de- 

 lightful glow to the blood, and the mind is held 

 in pleasing attention to the phenomena and fea- 

 tures of the season. Every sound comes to 

 the ear with a novel and surprising distinct- 

 ness. The low of cattle; the rattle of far-off 

 wheels ; the hollow tread of approaching feet ; 

 and the merry voices of sliders and skaiters, 

 who are pursuing their healthful amusement 

 upon every sheet of unruffled ice. In towns, 

 however, walking is none of the safest. From 

 time immemorial boys have used it as an es- 

 pecial privilege of theirs to make slides upon 

 every causeway, maugre the curses and me- 

 nacing canes of old gentlemen, and the certain 

 production of falls, bruises, and broken bones. 

 Sometimes, too, rain freezing as it falls, or a 

 sudden thaw, and as sudden a re-freezing, 

 covers the whole ground with a sheet of the 

 most glassy ice. Such a frost occurred in 1811, 

 when great numbers of birds were caught, and 



