﻿46 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



other plants actually blossomed during the reign of old Janus ; in 

 short, the season has been figuratively a " wolf in sheep's clothing." 

 But there is an old saying that " Winter never rots in the sky," 

 and the month of February has proved it to be a true one, for it 

 enveloped us suddenly with a train of " vapors, and clouds, and 

 storms," which seemed to remind us that we must not expect spring 

 birds at present. 



There is no season subject to more variation in its temperature, 

 its storms, its duties, or its pleasures, than winter. It is almost 

 emphatically a season of recreation and rest ; a time for closing up 

 the business of the old year and making preparations for the new; a 

 time for instruction, reading and reflection. In the spring every 

 kind of out-door employment seems to revive. The farmer casts the 

 seeds, which are to produce the means of his sustenance, into the 

 ground with hope. In summer they are carefully and patiently 

 cultivated, and in the autumn the fruits of his labors are gathered 

 home and safely housed. The plough is then laid away, hill-sides 

 are forsaken, the flocks of grazing cattle are driven home, and 

 everything betokens the approach of blustering winds and drifting 

 snows. Well, no matter ! We have warm, comfortable homes, 

 and will let Jack Frost do his worst, and if he does occasionally 

 give us a pretty smart pull at our noses, it will do us no harm. It 

 is only the drones and idlers who are afraid of his tricks, for Jack 

 has a perfect hatred of all lazy people. If you want to cut his 

 acquaintance, fly round lively, and the old fellow will not trouble 

 you with his importunities. 



Hardly anything can be more exciting than a right snapping cold 

 morning after a heavy fall of snow. You can feel it when you get 

 up, and, if you scrape the frost from your chamber window, you can 

 almost see it too. The smoke from the neighboring chimneys rises 

 up a great distance, like a huge column perfectly straight, arid, as 

 the sun comes peeping over the horizon, the air is filled with minute 

 particles of frost, like small snow-flakes, falling to the ground, and 

 glittering like dew-drops upon a summer's morning. But you will 

 hardly have time to make many observations, if you sleep in a cold 

 room, which you always should do if you are well, until you are 

 dressed, and have taken your morning exercise, and eaten your 



