336 



XXV. 



DECEMBER 1st. 



Uses of Winter. Our Feelings an insufficient Criterion of Temperature. 

 - Cause of this. Thickness of Animals' Coats in Winter. Effects 

 of Change of Climate. Hair of Caterpillars. Termination of Agri- 

 cultural Occupations. Butchering. Freezing of Carcases. Hyber- 

 nation of Reptiles. Case-flies. Poduras various Modes of Loco- 

 motion. Freezing of the River. Winter Condition of Fishes. 

 Subaqueous Sensations. Reflection from the Surface of Air. Yel- 

 low-bird. Canada Jay. Downy Woodpecker. Blind Prejudice. 

 Tempest in the Forest its Effects. Grandeur of God. 



FATHER. The rains of autumn have now fairly yielded 

 to the frosts of winter : our long season of cold weather has 

 set in : 



" And skies their wintry sternness wear." 



CHARLES. How dreary and desolate an appearance the 

 face of Nature now presents ? no longer smiling in loveli- 

 ness either in forest or in field. The trees, stripped of their 

 rich foliage, stretch their naked and contorted arms abroad, 

 like gaunt skeletons ; the streams and brooks, where the sun- 

 beams played in the sparkling waters, are sealed up and 

 still ; arid the verdure of the field is exchanged for a wide 

 and unbroken waste of snow; and animate nature is as 

 dead and silent as inanimate : nothing moves but the 

 tops of the leafless trees in the wind : nothing is heard but 

 the sighing of the gale through the boughs. Oh ! I do not 

 love winter: it is cheerless and depressing: give me the 



