WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 375 



the logs of wood thrown on the fire burn bright and 

 clear the surface of a burning log breaks up into 

 small, irregular squares ; and the old folk shake their 

 heads, and say, " It will freeze." As the evening 

 advances the hoofs of horses passing by on the road 

 give out a sharp sound a sign that the mud is rapidly 

 hardening. The grass crunches under foot, and in 

 the morning the elms are white with rime ; icicles hang 

 from the thatch, and the ponds are frozen. 



But there is nothing so uncertain as frost : it may 

 thaw, and even rain, within a few hours ; and, on the 

 other hand, even after raining in the afternoon, it 

 may clear up about midnight, and next morning the 

 ice will be a quarter of an inch thick. Sometimes it 

 will begin in so faint-hearted a fashion that the 

 ground in the centre of the fields is still soft, and will 

 " poach " under the hoofs of cattle, while by the 

 hedge it is hard. But by slow degrees the cold in- 

 creases, and ice begins to form. Again, it will freeze 

 for a week, and yet you will find very little ice, be- 

 cause all the while there has been a rough wind, 

 and the waves on the lake cannot freeze while in 

 motion. So that a long frost is extremely difficult to 

 foresee. 



But it comes at last. Two really sharp frosts will 

 cause ice thick enough to bear a lad at the edge of the 

 lake ; three will bear a man a few yards out ; four, 

 and it is safe to cross ; in a week the ice is between 

 three and four inches thick, and would carry a wagon. 

 The character of ice varies : if some sleet has been 



