FEBRUARY DAYS 



tion, you might believe that the well- 

 tamed country had lapsed into the 

 possession of its ancient savage tenants, 

 for the track of the fox is as big as a 

 wolf's, the raccoon's as large as a bear's, 

 the house cat's as broad as the panther's, 

 and those of the muskrat and mink per- 

 suade you to believe that the beaver and 

 otter, departed a hundred years ago, 

 have come to their own again. Till the 

 next thaw or snowfall, they are set as 

 indelibly as primeval footprints in the 

 rocks, and for any scent that tickles 

 the hounds' keen nose, might be as old. 

 He sniffs them curiously and contemptu- 

 ously passes on, yet finds little more 

 promising on footing that retains but for 

 an instant the subtle trace of reynard's 

 unmarked passage. 



The delicate curves and circles that 

 the bent weeds etched on the soft snow 

 are widened and deepened in rigid 

 grooves, wherein the point that the fin- 

 gers of the wind traced them with is 

 frozen fast. Far and wide from where 

 they fall, all manner of seeds drift across 

 miles of smooth fields, to spring to life 

 and bloom, by and by, in strange, unac- 

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