14: DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



I can't count you one of our weather-wise folks," and with 

 this ungracious parting shot I skipped over to the tavern. 



In the bar-room of the White Horse I found Asa 

 Thorngate sitting near the stove, and I asked him the 

 same question and got much the same reply that Benajah 

 had given, but he added the one important item that " you 

 can't calc'late on the winters as we used to when I was 

 young." 



"Why not?" I asked. 



" Because the snow used to come early ; sometimes late 

 in the fall and lie on the ground until well on in March. 

 It was winter steady, and you could put up wheels and 

 travel on runners the whole season." 



" And didn't you have any January thaw ? " I asked. 



" Oh, yes ; pretty regular, and the ground would be 

 clean " 



" You would go sleighing on bare ground then ? " I 

 interrupted. 



Garrulous old Asa looked up with a puzzled expres- 

 sion, and was about to explain, but I did not wait ; and 

 now, after thinking it over, have concluded that the dis- 

 tinction between a January thaw and a " warm spell " in 

 December or a " break-up " in February is insignificant ; 

 and that the one is about as likely to occur as either of the 

 others, and not one whit more so. 



A January thaw, to be a prominent feature of the 

 month, is necessarily dependent upon the degree of frost 

 prevailing during December. If the latter month is mild, 

 with little or no snow, then the still milder weather after 

 New Year's will produce no very marked effect. Fortu- 

 nately, it sometimes happens that there is considerable 

 snow and a firmly frozen river in December, and then the 

 typical thaw terminates with a midwinter freshet, often 

 disastrous, it is true, but sure to open up a charming new 

 world to the outdoor naturalist. 



