MARCH. 61 



his raging anew, drives one home by his attacks, and 

 ere another morning arrives, the birds lie concealed 

 in the depths of the woods, whither they have been 

 driven by a snow-storm, and all hearts are again sad 

 dened by the universal aspect of winter. 



The change that has taken place in the appearance 

 of the sun at his rising, since the opening of this month,, 

 may be regarded as one of the usual indications of the 

 reviving spring. The atmosphere, on clear mornings, is. 

 more heavily loaded with vapors than is usual at the 

 same hour in winter. The exhalations of the preceding 

 day have been descending in frosty dews by night upon 

 the plains, and seem to be gathered thickly about the 

 horizon, and yield to the first beams of the sun a tint 

 of purple and violet, like the dawn of a summer morn 

 ing. The sun, in midwinter, when there are no vapors 

 resting on the lakes and meadows, the cold winds 

 having frozen every source of exhaling moisture, rises 

 suddenly into a pure, transparent atmosphere. But as 

 spring advances, and the sun rises higher into the zenith,, 

 the evaporation increases, the atmosphere, in the morn 

 ing, becomes charged with prismatic vapors, and every 

 mead and valley is crowned at sunrise with wreaths of 

 mist, adorned with the hues of the rainbow. Hence 

 the crimson haze that accompanies the dawn, denotes- 

 that the icy fountains are unlocked, and that the lakes 

 and rivulets are again pouring out their dewy offerings, 

 to the skies. 



March is ..an unpleasant month for the rambler- 

 There is but little comfort abroad, either for the feet 

 upon the ground we tread, or for our sensations in the 

 air we breathe. Still I would not relinquish my walks,, 

 except in storms or the severest cold. There is an in 

 terest in roaming abroad at this time, though it be our 



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