30^ FEBRUARY. 



music, though it be but the cowbell's chime, the stroke 

 of the woodman's axe, or the crash of some tall tree just 

 falling to the ground. Sometimes, during this period of 

 calm sunshine, the squirrels will come forth from their 

 retreats and in the echoing silence of the woods we may 

 hear their rustling leap among the dry oak-leaves, their 

 occasional chirrup, and the dropping of nuts fr^om the 

 lofty branches of the hickory. There is music in all the 

 echoes that break the stillness of the hour ; in the cawing 

 of crows, the scream of jays, or the quick hammering of 

 the woodpecker upon the hollow trunk of some ancient 

 standard of the forest. 



The mild serenity of the weather, the fresh odors that 

 arise from thawing vegetation, the beautiful haze that sur- 

 rounds the horizon, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow, 

 the lively chattering of poultry in the farm-yards, the 

 bleating of flocks and the lowing of kine, an occasional 

 concert of crows in the neighboring wood, the checkered 

 landscape of snow-drifts rising out of the brown earth and 

 gleaming in the sunshine, and the soft hazy light that 

 glows from distant hills and spires, all these rural 

 sights and sounds affect us with a pleasure not surpassed 

 by that which is felt at any time or season. Now and 

 then, amidst all this harmonious medley, as if to remind 

 us of the coming delights of spring, a solitary song-spar- 

 row, prematurely arrived from the south, will tune his 

 little throat and sing from some leafless shrub his first 

 salutation of reviving Nature. 



Among the attractions of winter scenery I must not 

 omit the frostwork upon the windows, which has been 

 so often used by poets to emblemize the hopes of youth. 

 All vegetation in summer presents not a greater variety 

 of forms than we may behold in these beautiful configu- 

 rations. The mornings which are most remarkable for 

 this curious pencil-work are such as follow a very cold 



