248 Walks in New England 



more rudely and careered onward. There seemed 

 a mysterious intelligence and expectancy about 

 the earth, as though it had a sense of the spectacle 

 that was being prepared and artistically finished. 



The rain came slowly and gently, and great 

 accretions of ice grew on the trees and the shrubs ; 

 the light snow with which the storm ended was 

 blown away by the capricious breezes of the night; 

 and the temperature of the day being just below 

 the freezing point, the ice remained throughout 

 the day, except in warm southern exposures. 

 The pines and the spruces, which often are clad 

 in tranquil, gracious whiteness by the snow-fall, 

 now had their long branches stretched earthward, 

 their dark verdure offset by the diamond splendour 

 of the ice, and long icicles depending from every 

 stem and bough. The oak leaves clinging to the 

 center of their homes shone through the crystal 

 coating like moss shut in the agate. The slender 

 gray birches bowed till their tips touched the 

 ground, and a group of these graceful trees, each 

 member curved to an opposite point, made elfin 

 bowers that might well delight &quot; the little people 

 of the snow,&quot; of whom Bryant wrote with so deli 

 cate a fancy. Every such bower and every black 

 berry bush by the roadside or rose bush in the 

 garden, shone with all the prismatic colours. 



In the morning, when the sun s rays struck 



