WINTER SUNSHINE 5 



the dogwood and spice-bush and other shrubs shina 

 in the sun like rubies and coral. The crows fly 

 high above the earth, as they do only on such days, 

 forms of ebony floating across the azure, and the 

 buzzards look like kingly birds, sailing round and 

 round. 



Or it may be later in the season, well into De- 

 cember. The days are equally bright, but a little 

 more rugged. The mornings are ushered in by an 

 immense spectrum thrown upon the eastern sky. 

 A broad bar of red and orange lies along the low 

 horizon, surmounted by an expanse of color in 

 which green struggles with yellow and blue with 

 green half the way to the zenith. By and by the 

 red and orange spread upward and grow dim, the 

 spectrum fades, and the sky becomes suffused with 

 yellow white light, and in a moment the fiery scin- 

 tillations of the sun begin to break across the Mary- 

 land hills. Then before long the mists and vapors 

 uprise like the breath of a giant army, and for an 

 hour or two one is reminded of a November morn- 

 ing in England. But by mid-forenoon the only 

 trace of the obscurity that remains is a slight haze, 

 and the day is indeed a summons and a challenge 

 to come forth. If the October days were a cordial 

 like the sub-acids of fruit, these are a tonic like the 

 wine of iron. Drink deep, or be careful how you 

 taste this December vintage. The first sip may 

 chill, but a full draught warms and invigorates. 

 No loitering by the brooks or in the woods now, 

 but spirited, rugged walking along the public high* 



