$2 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



sounds, and comes like a call blown by 

 fays and fauns of the crimson hills. It 

 fills the world with romance, for it is one 

 of the few privileges of life in the city that 

 there is this much to take one out of it. 



And it is one of the sorrows of that same 

 life that there is so little winter during the 

 cold months. The snow that ought to oe 

 used for sleighing, and for snow-balls to 

 cast against the pot-hats and tiles of digni- 

 fied citizens, is trampled and fouled and 

 cleared away. Maybe when we have dis- 

 missed the horse from our service we shall 

 be allowed to slide over the snowy streets 

 in mechanically propelled sledges, and to 

 take walks in parks and across vacant lots 

 without sloshing through sweepings. There 

 are few finer things than to be out of doors 

 in wind and ugly weather. It satisfies our 

 longing for fight. Thoreau says we must 

 take long walks in storm and snow to keep 

 our spirits up. " Deal with brute nature. 

 Be cold and hungry and weary." Hard 

 advice for us cits. I suppose my three- 

 mile wade to the office on the day of the 

 great blizzard would not have counted with 



