NEW ENGLAND WINTER. 159 



ions, the red-poll linnets, it is not easy for 

 them to feed while hanging upon the pods. 

 So, taking the weeds one by one, they 

 alighted at the very tip, and then with 

 various twitchings and stampings shook the 

 stalk as violently as possible, after which 

 they dropped quickly upon the snow to 

 gather up the results of their labors. As I 

 say, it was an extremely pretty perform- 

 ance, and by itself would have rewarded me 

 for my morning tramp, putting me in mind, 

 as it did, of happy hours long since past, 

 when I climbed into the tops of nut-trees on 

 business of the same sort. One of the prin- 

 cipal uses of friendship, human or other, is 

 this of keeping the heart young. 



I hope I am not lacking in a wholesome 

 disrespect for sentimentality and affecta- 

 tion ; for artificial ecstasies over sunsets and 

 landscapes, birds and flowers ; the fashion- 

 able cant of nature- worship, which is enough 

 almost to seal a true worshiper's lips under 

 a vow of everlasting silence. But such re- 

 pugnances belong to the library and the 

 parlor, and are left behind when a man goes 

 abroad, either by himself or in any other 

 really good company. For my own part 



