LETTER XVI 



Christmas Ewelme Snow American Cousins Floods Snow 

 Giants Ground-ice River freezing Feeding the Birds 

 Hibernating Snails Tomtits Hanging Bones Rooks : their 

 artfulness Owls Gnats in Winter Changeableness of 

 weather. 



gth January 1887. 



DEAR MARCO The day before Christmas 

 day I took my American cousins, who were 

 spending Christmas with us, over to see 

 Ewelme. I found old Clark still alive in his 

 bed ; he is quite the last of the old people in 

 the almshouse whom you would remember, 

 and he quite well remembered Mr. Marks. 

 He has been married twice since you knew 

 him ; there are always weddings going on in 

 the almshouses between the old widowers 

 and widows. The weather was lovely on 

 that day, and also on Christmas day, but the 

 next night the storm began, and with it the 



