92 SYLVAN WINTER. 



leaving clear the atmosphere above it, so that the 

 eye might, without impediment to the vision, take 

 in the whole of the beautiful prospect. 



As we have been looking, however, the sky has 

 darkened threateningly, and a shadow has crept 

 over the forest, obscuring the beauty of the dis- 

 tant fretwork. The reason of this change soon 

 becomes manifest, for the air is presently filled 

 with great, falling flakes, floating with silent beauty 

 to the earth, and, though obscuring the sylvan 

 prospect on which the eye had beoii delightedly 

 looking, giving new loveliness to the nearer 

 scene. 



