286 Walks in New England 



sidewalk drifts covering the fences from sight ex 

 cept for an occasional gulch scooped by the antic 

 winds. 



There was no such thing as getting a view of 

 the storm during the day ; the vision could reach 

 but a few rods, the clouds could not be seen, all 

 the air was a mad whirl of flakes, and to look up 

 Main street was to see an ominous moving wall, 

 frayed and tossed at the edges, of a sort of dull 

 brown colour in the height of day, deepening as the 

 unseen sun dropped below the blocks. 



It was a wicked day among the elements, one 

 of those days that impress on the mind the fact 

 that there is no sort of sympathy for man in that 

 mystery called Nature, and that beside her power 

 man s wonderful ingenious triumphs are mere toys. 

 What were his boasts, the locomotive engine and 

 the telegraph, yesterday, when the north wind and 

 the snow came down upon earth and raged over 

 it ? It was like the caprice of some gigantic spirit, 

 sending his servants not to destroy, but to ob 

 struct and vex. &quot; See ! &quot; thus they cried, &quot; It 

 is well for you to stay where you are to-day ; you, 

 clerk at your desk, you, sales-woman at your 

 counter you, merchant, and your children will 

 not see each other to-night, sleep where you can, 

 all of you, this is my pleasure. Let the world 

 go on as it will, you people will be none the worse 



