FEBRUARY. 



As I have already observed, I regard this as 

 the most cheerless month in the year. There 

 may be pleasant varieties of it ; the latter end 

 may, and frequently is, much more agreeable 

 than the commencement ; but, as a whole, it is as 

 I have characterised it. It is at once damp and 

 foggy. Besides the earth being saturated with 

 a whole winter's moisture, there is generally 

 abundance of rain during this month, so much 

 so as to have acquired for it the cognomen of 

 " February fill-dike." The frosts and snows 

 which have been locking up and burying the 

 earth for weeks and months, are now giving 

 way, and what is so cheerless and chilly as 



A GREAT THAW ? There is a lack of comfort 

 felt everywhere. In real winter weather the 

 clear frosty air sharply saluted the face by day, 

 and revealed to the eye at night a scene of pure 



