AUNT SUE'S SNOWBANK 287 



enemies. The ground would freeze solid around 

 them, but that instead of harming them would 

 simply put the seal of safety on their abode. Nor 

 were they dead things to be resurrected by the 

 Gabriel horn of spring. When I poked them 

 they wriggled with quite surprising vigor, show- 

 ing that they were very much alive and keenly 

 conscious. They were not even asleep, else their 

 jump at a touch would not have been so prompt. 



The frost goes deepest in the densely com- 

 pacted earth, probably because of the density; 

 the fewer the air cells the better the conductor. 

 In fluffy soil, especially in the peaty margins of 

 the pond where the earth granules are large and 

 loose and there is much moisture, freezing pro- 

 duces a singular and beautiful result. The ice 

 seems to crystallize away from the peat in which 

 the water was ensponged, not in a compact body 

 nor yet in feathery crystals, either of which 

 one might expect, but in closely parallel,' 

 upright cylinders from the size of a knitting 

 needle to that of a slim lead pencil. These are 

 often several inches long and stand erect at the 

 surface by the thousand, touching but not coher- 

 ing, ready to crumble to fragments at the pres- 



