A SNOW-STOEM 



rriHAT is a striking line with which Emerson 



-^ opens his beautiful poem of the Snow-Storm ; — 



" Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, 

 Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields, 

 Seems nowhere to alight." 



One seems to see the clouds puffing their cheeks as 

 they sound the charge of their white legions. But 

 the line is more accurately descriptive of a rain- 

 storm, as, in both summer and winter, rain is 

 usually preceded by wind. Homer, describing a 

 snow-storm in his time, says : — 



" The winds are lulled." 

 The preparations of a snow-storm are, as a rule, 

 gentle and quiet; a marked hush pervades both the 

 earth and the sky. The movements of the celestial 

 forces are muffled, as if the snow already paved the 

 way of their coming. There is no uproar, no clash- 

 ing of arms, no blowing of wind trumpets. These 

 soft, feathery, exquisite crystals are formed as if in 

 the silence and privacy of the inner cloud- chambers. 

 Rude winds would break the spell and mar the 

 process. The clouds are smoother, and slower in 

 their movements, with less definite outlines than 



