JANUARY 



15 



And when I returned new drifts would have 

 formed, through which I floundered, where the 

 busy northwest wind had been depositing the 

 powdery snow round a sharp angle in the road, 

 and not a rabbit's track, nor even the fine print, 

 the small type, of a meadow mouse was to be seen. 

 Yet I rarely failed to find, even in midwinter, 

 some warm and springy swamp where the grass 

 and the skunk-cabbage still put forth with peren- 

 nial verdure, and some hardier bird occasionally 

 awaited the return of spring. 



THOREAU : Walden. 



16 



No winter day, as it seems to me, was ever so 

 fair as the winter night with the moon presiding. 

 Not for the eye of the sun are the finer, subtler 

 wonders of the snow ; these are reserved for the 

 celestial wanderer " with white fire laden." So well 

 pleased is she with the faithful coldness and purity 

 of the snow that she is constantly visiting it with 

 favors. Therefore are her nameless gem-bearing 

 mountains and her treasure-houses laid under con- 

 tribution for the adornment of her terrestrial love, 

 in the folds of whose garments a myriad jewels 

 sparkle. 



EDITH M. THOMAS : The Round Year. 



