FEBRUARY DAYS 



with brief passage the gray woodlands. 

 Faster come the clouds out of the south 

 and out of the west, till they crowd the 

 sky, only fragments of its intense azure 

 showing here and there between them, 

 only now and then a gleam of sunlight 

 flashing across the earth. Then the blue 

 sunlit sky is quite shut away behind a 

 low arch of gray, darkening at the hori- 

 zon with thick watery clouds, and beneath 

 it all the expanse of fields and forest lies 

 in universal shadow. 



The south wind is warmer than yes- 

 terday's sunshine, the snow softens till 

 your footsteps are sharply moulded as in 

 wax, and in a little space each imprint 

 is flecked thick with restless, swarming 

 myriads of snow-fleas. Rain begins to 

 fall softly on snow-covered roofs, but 

 beating the panes with the familiar pat- 

 ter of summer showers. It becomes a 

 steady downpour that continues till the 

 saturated snow can hold no more, and 

 the hidden brooks begin to show in yel- 

 low streaks between white, unstable 

 shores, and glide with a swift whisking 

 rush over the smooth bottom that paves 

 their rough natural bed ; and as their 

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