116 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



it has brought back to my mind little shadows 

 of things that happened before we left England. 

 The ground all white, and the large blazing 

 iiro, remind me of the time when v;e were at 

 Montague Hall, when my grandfather used to 

 employ me to gather the crumbs at breakfast, to 

 put out of the windows for the poor little 

 starving birds. I believe it was that circum- 

 stance that gave me such a love of birds ; for 1 am 

 sure I can recollect the happiness I used to feel 

 when feeding them along with good grandpapa, 

 and watching all their little motions. 



My uncle was amused with my exclamations 

 of delight at the snow, and he was good enough 

 to shew me that each flake has a star-like 

 appearance, consisting of five or six rays that 

 diverge from the centre ; and that from each 

 of these rays little spicula shoot out, which by 

 crossing each other form a beautiful net-work. 

 He says that when clouds are formed at such 

 a height in the air as that the temperature there 

 is below 32, the particles of moisture become 

 congealed or frozen. If the particles are small, 

 or if they are slowly frozen, they become snow, 

 which gradually descends to the earth ; but it 

 often happens that the atmosphere near the 

 earth is so warm as to re-dissolve the snow while 

 falling, so that it comes down in the shape of 

 rain. "This," he added, " cannot take place 

 with hail, because it is so much more solid, 



