Frost Foliage. 



A WONDER-WORKER is this elfish frost 

 He deals not only in fantastic shapes, but 

 crowds the fields in a single night with glitter- 

 ing, crystalline ghosts of dead summer's blos- 

 soms. At daybreak they tremble in the rest- 

 less wind and tearfully stand their ground at 

 sunrise. Their master, arrant coward, has hid* 

 den in the shadows. The rising sun breaks 

 the spell and the ghosts are gone. 



Emboldened by the north wind, it some- 

 times happens that frost works with greater 

 vigor through the watches of the night, and 

 then there are not only the same dainty blos- 

 soms as before, but the skeletons of the frail 

 growths of summer are rebuilt in crystal ; 

 firmly rebuilt, and so rugged that the sun's 

 level rays only add to their splendor, and for 

 half a day, the fields are prismatic instead of 

 brown, and so brilliant that all we recall of 



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