I 5 2 WINTER SKE TCHES. 



there by the Power that gives to the mountain 

 waves their ceaseless moving energy of life. 

 And yet, if we cannot have the sea all the 

 time, let us be grateful for what the land affords 

 that is beautiful, if not so grand. The snow 

 cannot lie and sparkle on the breast of the 

 ocean, and there are no silver forests there — no, 

 nor sleigh-bells, toboggan-slides, and skating- 

 ponds, but, taking it all in all, leaving the 

 waves out of the account, could there be any- 

 thing more superb than the breaking of the 

 storm that day at Danbury ? 



True to its propensity, this came about 

 precisely at noon, and the north-west wind 

 succeeded. As Fanny and I left the town at 

 one o'clock, the sleigh tracks were covered with 

 a dry powdered snow, which here and there 

 was whirled up against the fences, arching itself 

 over them in drifts and festoons. Everything 

 looked so white, so pure, so clean, as if there 

 could never be a thaw, when the roads would 

 become dirty brown, then black bare ground, 

 the barn-yards reservoirs of filth, the fences 

 naked and wet, and there would be "water, 

 water everywhere." I did not think of that at 

 the time. 



There are many persons who would not have 



