Come ! Thou Song Sparrow 1 5 



of weather have been furnished, and there is 

 scarcely any stock left except the summer stock. 

 Even our thaws have been very wintry, and the 

 fogs we had in February are, so the farmers say, 

 earnest of frosts in May, while the thunder show 

 ers mean mischief of cold in midsummer. 

 Perhaps there is some sort of balance in the sea 

 sons malaises, but when we are told that because 

 the first snow-storm came on November 24, we 

 must have 24 snow-storms, and we learn that the 

 tale is not filled without three more, we find it 

 an overdraft on our credulity. Still, late as it is, 

 by a little hurrying up, the three storms can get 

 here before April. It is certainly rather unusual 

 to look out upon a wild wintry world of white at 

 so late a date. Why, the farmers on the hills are 

 yet sledding over the shun-pikes instead of the 

 turnpikes, going out into the fields by paths 

 well determined through many generations to 

 avoid the drifts in the established roads. Such 

 an experience is very rare. It is what they call a 

 new thing, though it is plain that there can be 

 no new types of seasons, vary as seasons will, 

 they have every one their precedents. And old 

 inhabitants relate how in 1 843 the sleighing lasted 

 in the valley until April 1 1 . 



In the course of this riotous winter, wonderful 

 exhibitions of beauty have been made. We re- 



