DECEMBER 



29 



The apples that cling to the trees, the pods that 

 hang to the lowest branches, and the seeds that the 

 various weeds and grasses hold above the deepest 

 snows, alone make it possible for many birds to 

 pass the winter among us. 



BURROUGHS: Signs and Seasons. 



You hear the lisping music of chickadees from 

 time to time, and the unrelenting steel-cold scream 

 of a jay, unmelted, that never flows into a song, a 

 sort of wintry trumpet, screaming cold, hard, tense, 

 frozen music like the winter sky itself. 



THOREAU: Winter. 



30 



Come see the north wind's masonry. 

 Out of an unseen quarry evermore 

 Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer 

 Curves his white bastions with projected roof 

 Round every windward stake, or tree, or door. 

 Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work 

 So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he 

 For number or proportion. 



EMERSON: The Snowstorm. 



Take long walks in stormy weather, or through 

 deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would 

 keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be 

 cold and hungry and weary. 



THOREAU: Winter. 



