SNOW, ICE AND FROST 179 



weather, when the frost is at work, this sparkhng 

 dew is changed to gUstening frost crystals, every 

 blade of grass being edged with them, — crystals so 

 delicate and so exquisite that your heart is filled with 

 wonder at the sight of them. 



When it is very cold the frost makes beautiful 

 pictures upon the windows. It freezes the vapor 

 that was hiding in your breath and in the air of the 

 room wherever it touches the window-pane. You 

 would never think, would you, that the frost had 

 such power? Why, there is nothing more wonder- 

 ful in a fairy story than this! In the make-believe 

 story a fairy's wand turned a pumpkin into a chariot; 

 but upon the window-pane the frost really does turn the 

 tiny beads of moisture that are hidden in the air into 

 the most beautiful pictures and enchanting forms. 



Did you ever examine carefully the frost-work on 

 the window-pane? Perhaps you saw there pictures 

 of castles with trees and mountains, or pictures of 

 open fields with fences and woods on either side, 

 where birds seem to be flying across the open space. 

 And did you ever notice the long plumes and the 

 feathery ferns? 



When the cold freezes the vapor which collects 

 upon the window-pane, or the dew upon the grass, 

 we call it frost, but wheil it freezes the vapor which 

 has risen into the sky we call it snow. Hail is frozen 

 rain-drops, but snow is frozen vapor. Those invisible 

 drops are changed by the cold into the softest, whit- 

 est, daintiest flakes of snow. 



What a delightful thing it is to watch the white, 

 starry flakes coming softly down to cover the earth. 



