DECEMBER 



27 



Coming over the side of Fair Haven Hill at sun- 

 set, we saw a long, large, dusky cloud in the north- 

 west horizon, apparently just this side of Wachu- 

 sett, or at least twenty miles off, which was snow- 

 ing, when all the rest was clear sky. It was a 

 complete snow-cloud. It looked like rain falling 

 at an equal distance, except that the snow fell less 

 directly, and the upper outline of a part of the 

 cloud was more like that of a dusky mist. ... It 

 was a rare and strange sight, that of a snowstorm 

 twenty miles off, on the verge of a perfectly clear 

 sky. Thus local is all storm, surrounded by seren- 

 ity and beauty. 



THOKEAC: Autumn. 



28 



Observed the track of a squirrel in the snow 

 under one of the apple-trees on the southeast side 

 of the hill, and looking up saw a red squirrel with 

 a nut or piece of frozen apple (?) in his mouth 

 within six feet, sitting in a constrained position, 

 partly crosswise, on a limb over my head, perfectly 

 still, and looking not at me, but off into the air, 

 evidently expecting to escape my attention by this 

 trick. I stood, and watched and chirruped to him 

 about five minutes, so near, and yet he did not once 

 turn his head to look at me, or move a foot, or 

 wink. The only motion was that of his tail curled 

 over his back in the wind. 



THOREAU : Early Spring in Massachusetts. 



