AUGUST. 147 



II. 



"There is a world in which we live with Nature an 

 enchanting world indeed to those who care for it. ... 

 There is a world of knowledge wrought by thought out of 

 the long results of time, created by science out of the past 

 and the present, out of the heaven above us and the earth 

 beneath. Into these domains all may enter and walk 

 therein with profit and with pleasure." 



How singularly beautiful the snow was as it fell on 

 Sunday the 23rd of last month. The large soft flakes came 

 down so thickly and so quietly in the still atmosphere, 

 clinging with gentle persistence to every branch and twig 

 and leaf till even the bare trees stood clear and sharp with 

 gracefully feathered outlines, while the evergreens were 

 borne down by the weight of their heavy burden. 



The clear sky which followed the snow caused such a fall 

 of temperature owing to unchecked radiation that every- 

 thing froze up, the snow itself becoming like sand in its 

 crisp dryness. It is not often the case in Dunedin that we 

 have a snowfall which is not accompanied by an outbreak 

 of snowballing among the juvenile population, but during 

 the late severe weather the snow was mostly too dry to 

 bind, and even when it did thaw a little during the day 

 it was only to freeze again into masses of ice. What a 

 stillness fell on all Nature ? The week before the thrushes 

 had been heralding the advent of spring, picking out the 

 topmost branches of the trees and shrubs from which to 

 pour out their joyous notes. But these suddenly ceased, 

 and for over a week not a song bird was to be heard 

 except a solitary bell bird, that could not keep silence 

 so long, and that evidently thought something had gone 

 wrong with the season. 



After severe weather we count up our losses in the 

 garden, and forget to count the gains. The losses are 

 usually so conspicuous, and the gains we have to take 

 a good deal on credit. In our gardens we grow many 

 plants, natives of warmer regions, which will stand slight 

 frosts, and we take our chance of their surviving the usual 



