8 IN WINTER. 



I found but three flowers as I neared my 

 home a dandelion, a violet, and a pale spring 

 beauty ; but earlier in the month, a friend had 

 been more successful, and gathered not only 

 those I have named, but others. Doubtless 

 these superlatively early blossomings have to do 

 with the present extraordinary winter, now more 

 than half gone, but not altogether, perhaps. 

 Many a plant is more vigorous than we suspect, 

 and stray flowers are hidden beneath the fallen 

 leaves more often than we know. 



When, in the forbidding gloom of a winter 

 dawn, I ventured out of doors, it was with the 

 anticipation of a cheerless walk, if not fear 

 of actual discomfort; but the brilliant sunrise 

 promptly dispelled all this, my fears giving way 

 to hopes that were more than realized. 



ittiburinter Jilinstrdsj). 



IT is a common impression, I find, that when 

 the Northern song-birds come in autumn from 

 Canada to the Middle and Southern States, they 

 leave their music behind them, and during their 

 sojourn here they only chirp and twitter at best, 

 and far oftener are moody and silent. This ab- 

 surdity is not readily explained, unless it be that 



