152 NEW ENGLAND WINTER. 



vulnerable and sensitive spots. But withal, 

 as I have said, if we really possess any 

 reserved strength, it knows how to bring 

 it out and make the most of it. What a 

 fullness of vitality do we suddenly develop 

 as we come into close quarters with this 

 well-intentioned but rough and ready an- 

 tagonist ! In fine, winter is one of those 

 rare and invaluable friends of whom Emer- 

 son speaks, who enable us to do what we 

 can. To its good offices it is largely at- 

 tributable, no doubt, that in the long run 

 the inhabitants of temperate regions have 

 always been too powerful for their rivals 

 within the tropics. Frigidity is like pov- 

 erty, a blessing to those who can bear it. 



Winter in New England is not a time for 

 gathering flowers out-of-doors, though, tak- 

 ing the years together, there is no month of 

 the twelve wherein one may not pick a few 

 blossoms even in Massachusetts ; but if it 

 effaces one set of pictures, it paints for us 

 another ; and a wise and liberal taste will 

 reckon itself a debtor to both. To say 

 nothing of the half-dozen mornings on 

 which every tree and bush is arrayed in 

 all the splendor of diamonds, or the other 



