268 JANUARY. 



hues and fragrance, when the spring returns and wakes 

 the flowers and calls the bees out from their hives. 

 Nature is always active in her operations ; and during 

 winter are the embryos nursed of myriad hosts, that will 

 soon spread beauty over the plains and give animation to 

 the field and forest. 



Since the beauties of summer and autumn have faded, 

 Nature has bestowed on earth and man a brilliant recom- 

 pense, and spread the prospect with new scenes of beauty 

 and sublimity. The frozen branches of the trees are 

 clattering in the wind, and the reed stands nodding above 

 the ice and shivers in the rustling breeze. But while 

 these things remind us of the chills of winter, the univer- 

 sal prospect of snow sends into the soul the light of its 

 own perfect purity and splendor, and makes the landscape 

 still beautiful in its desolation. Though we look in vain 

 for a green herb, save where the ferns and mosses conceal 

 themselves in little dingles among the rocks, yet the 

 general face of the earth is unsurpassed in brilliancy. 

 Morning, noon, and night exhibit glories unknown to 

 any other season ; and the moon is more lovely when 

 she looks down from her starry throne and over field, 

 lake, mountain, and valley, emblems the . tranquillity of 

 heaven. 



It is pleasant to watch the progress and movements of 

 a snow-storm while the flakes are thickly falling from the 

 skies, and the drifts are rapidly accumulating along 

 the sides of the fences and in the lanes and hollows. 

 The peculiar motion of the winds, while eddying and 

 whirling over the varied surface of the ground, is ren- 

 dered more apparent than by &ny other phenomenon. 

 Every curve and every irregular twisting of the w^ind is 

 made palpable, to a degree that is never witnessed in the 

 whirling leaves of autumn, in the sand of the desert, or 

 in the dashing spray of the ocean. The appearance is 



