26 JANUARY. 



rest, and February the most cheerless month of the 

 year. In December the days become shorter and 

 shorter; a dense mass of vapour floats above us, 

 wrapping the world in a constant and depressing 

 gloomy ; 



,<Z7 f r 



- Murky night soon follows hazy noon. 



BLOOMFIELD. 



In January this mantle of brumal sadness some- 

 what dissipates, as if a new year had infused new 

 hope and vigour into the earth; light is not only 

 more plentifully diffused, but we soon perceive its 

 longer daily abode with us ; yet in the words of the 

 common adage, 



As the day lengthens, 

 The cold strengthens. 



This is the month of abundant snows and all t ne 

 intensity of frost. Yet winter, even in its severest 

 forms, brings so many scenes and circumstances 

 with it to interest the heart of the lover of Nature 

 and of his fellow-creatures, that it never ceases to 

 be a subject of delightful observation ; and mono- 

 tonous as it is frequently called, the very variety 

 of the weather itself presents an almost endless 

 source of novelty and beauty. There is first what 

 is called 



A GREAT STORM. Frost, keen, biting frost, is 

 in the ground; and in the air, a bitter, scythe- 

 edged, perforating wind from the north, or, what 

 is worse, the northeast, sweeps the descending 



