UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 95 



not thicker than large pins. You cannot think, 

 mamma, how pretty they were. 



When we raised one of these cluster columns 

 with its capital of earth, it separated quite easily 

 from the ground beneath it ; but still a thin film 

 of earth remained sticking to the bottom of the 

 column. Frederick brought home a lump of these 

 icy pillars on the spade, and my uncle laid aside 

 his letters, to shew, he said, how much pleasure 

 he felt when he saw us in pursuit of knowledge. 

 As soon as he looked at our pillars, he said, " In 

 that sort of spongy soil where you found them, 

 these icy crystals are formed so immediately 

 under the surface, that only a thin crust of earth 

 remains over their tops ; and the film of clay, 

 which sticks to the bottom of the column, shews 

 you that the frost has not penetrated below it, 

 but that the earth beneath continues soft. I see 

 you are looking at those marks across the pillars : 

 break the column at one of the marks," 



I did break one, and found exactly such a film 

 of earth between the two parts of the column, as 

 that which was on the bottom of it. I asked how 

 could earth get into the middle of the crystal ? 



" Each division," said my uncle, " shews a 

 separate crystal each crystal was formed in one 

 night, and the number of joints or interruptions 

 in the column shew how many nights we have 

 had frost." 



I reckoned four divisions in each column ; the 



