OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



January i. We counted twenty-five robins on our 

 snow-covered lawn this morning. We haven't seen 

 them until today. Have they come down from colder 

 climates in search of food? For the winter has been 

 unusually severe. 



January 23. After a wonderful crimson glow 

 changing gradually to primrose, comes the round red 

 ball of the sun in a burst of heavenly glory. The lake 

 is frozen in long undulations where deep blue shadows 

 lie; the heaped-up blocks of ice on the sandbar are 

 reflected in mirrors which yesterday were water; the 

 farther hills are still swathed in the misty garments 

 of the dawn ; high above us in the clear sky the horned 

 crescent of the moon grows ever fainter; hoar frost 

 sparkles from every exposed surface; the snow is reced 

 ing gradually from shrub and tree root, leaving moist 

 patches of earth for the delectation of Master Junco 

 and his kind. The stray Bohemian waxwing, which 

 has been visiting me for a week, appears on his look 

 out, the top branches of the south maple, then darts 

 down to his breakfast of haws on the prairie rose be- 



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