JTINfER-GREEN 



THE woods in winter are as thick with 

 short sermons as ever in June they 

 are obscured by green leaves. The mercury 

 fell to zero in the night and the ground is as 

 a rock, yet I found an unfaded, thrifty plant 

 that made no sign of discouragement and 

 looked up as confidently as violets in May. 

 Winter-green ; and when so much is in the 

 name itself, why say more ? A thrifty growth 

 that defies the frost and adds its mite to 

 the cheerfulness about it, whatever the con- 

 ditions. How much winter-green breaks 

 through our habitual crustiness ! 



Seen from afar, perhaps the old woods 

 looked dreary ; but who ever fathomed the 

 merit and merriment beyond a wrinkled face 

 until circumstances led us to break through 

 the restraining frown? To him who is a 

 stranger to them, the woods in winter are 

 forbidding. Advances cannot come from 

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