294 IValks in New England 



In City and Country 



THE impressive character of this March 

 storm, when one reflects upon it, is seen 

 to lie not in the physical facts belonging 

 to itself, such as its depth of snow and fierceness 

 and swiftness of wind, but almost wholly to the 

 theater of its action. It is not the first tremendous 

 snow-storm that has fallen in this country, but it 

 is the first that has included in its sweep the 

 mighty metropolis of the country and the railroads 

 and telegraph lines of all the eastern sea-board, 

 bringing affairs throughout so wide a region to a 

 pause of indefinite length, isolating large com 

 munities, and rendering visible in a moment the 

 infantile degree of man s mastery of Nature. 

 Here has Nature but to blow and snow a few 

 hours, and the important concerns of men are 

 halted ; do their best they cannot carry them on ; 

 and when the mysterious hand of Nature is with 

 drawn, men must labour for days before they get 

 free of the simple walls with which it has engirt 

 them, and can go their own ways, and start again 



