4 FRUIT RAXCHING. 



pleasantly cold. Certainly not in the railway cars, 

 for they were rather too hot and close and stuffy ; 

 nor yet, again, when the train pulled up at some way- 

 side station for the engine to take in water. On such 

 occasions, all the passengers tumbled out like mice 

 escaping from a corn-bin : it was such a delightful 

 change to be able to stretch one's legs for a minute 

 or two. And all the time the sun shone brightly; 

 and somehow, when the sun does shine in Canada in 

 winter, and especially when it shines on virgin-white 

 snow, it glitters w-ith a peculiarly brilliant lustre. 



The most characteristic feature of the landscape 

 east of the St. Lawrence and Montreal appeared to us 

 to be these beautiful lakes, w-ith park-like shores 

 rising into low, gently-swelling hills and offering 

 vistas of smooth lawns of unsullied whiteness. 

 After we left Montreal, the country was flatter and 

 more open. It was evidently of older settlement. 

 Every now and again there was a house built of 

 brick. This, together with fields and fences and roads, 

 carried our minds back across the watery wastes of 

 the Atlantic to a dear old country. Here, in 

 this part of our journey, the snow was beginning to 

 melt, and in several places we saw the cows and other 

 cattle standing on patches of brown earth outside the 

 byres, in which they had been shut up for so many 

 weeks. There was not a scrap of anything for them 

 to eat; but the fresh air would do them good, and, 

 poor things, they looked spiritless and dejected 

 enough, as they feebly whisked their tails in the 

 cheering sun. 



