46 DANVIS FARM LIFE 



poultry-house, or, adventuring short trips there- 

 from, stop bewildered midway in their journey. 

 Presently the gray objects rising out of the strange 

 white expanse take on more familiar shapes, and 

 we recognize the barn, the orchard (though it has 

 an unsubstantial look, as if the first wind might 

 blow it away or an hour's warm sunshine melt it), 

 the well-known trees, the neighbors' houses, the 

 faint lines of the fences tracing the boundaries of 

 fields and farms, the woods, and beyond them the 

 unchanged outlines of wooded hills and the far- 

 away mountains, but with a new ruggedness in 

 their sides and with new clearings, till now un- 

 known, showing forth in white patches on their 

 slopes. We may take our time, for we shall have 

 long months in which to get acquainted with this 

 changed world. 



The first day of snow is a busy one. If the snow- 

 fall is great, there are paths to be shoveled to 

 the outbuildings, and wagons to be housed, and 

 sleighs to be got out and made ready, and many 

 little jobs, put off from time to time, to be at- 

 tended to. Perhaps there are young cattle, home- 

 less and unfed in the out-lot, lowing piteously, to 

 be brought to winter quarters, and sheep to be 

 brought home from their pasture. Happy are the 

 boys if to them is allotted this task, for the sheep 

 are sure to have sought the shelter of the woods, 

 and in the woods what strange sights may not be 



