160 NEW ENGLAND WINTER. 



the first lisp of a chickadee out of a way- 

 side thicket disperses with a breath all 

 such unhappy and unhallowed recollections. 

 Here is a voice sincere, and the response is 

 instantaneous and irresistible. 



It would be a breach of good manners, an 

 inexcusable ingratitude, to write never so 

 briefly of the New England winter without 

 noting this, the most engaging and charac- 

 teristic enlivener of our winter woods ; who 

 revels in snow and ice, and is never lacking 

 in abundant measures of faith and cheerful- 

 ness, enough not only for himself, but for 

 any chance wayfarer of our own kind. He 

 is every whit as independent as the shrike, 

 but in how opposite a manner ! with a 

 self-reliance that is never self-sufficiency, 

 and bravery that offers no suspicion of bra- 

 vado. Happy in himself, he is at the same 

 time of a most companionable spirit. Per- 

 fect little philosopher! What a paradise 

 New England would be if all her inhabi- 

 tants were like him ! 



In such a winter climate as ours it is em- 

 phatically true that we " know not what 

 shall be on the morrow/ ' The season is 

 not straitened in its resources, and caters 



