14 IN WINTER. 



white buds almost unfolded. It is in vain to 

 conjecture what had become of the birds of the 

 early morning. Let it suffice to say that I was 

 greatly disappointed, and had I not been astir 

 so very early would have been the more sorely 

 puzzled. As it was, the birds had not utterly 

 forsaken us, and proved in their own way and 

 in their own time that midwinter minstrelsy is 

 not a'myth. 



WHEN Mr. Isaac Norris, of Philadelphia, 

 merchant and man of observation, recorded the 

 weather in the vicinity of that city, 1749 and ear- 

 lier, he did not mention " cold waves," as such, 

 but remarked that there was greater irregularity 

 then than formerly, adding the significant state- 

 ment, " at present it is warm, even the very next 

 day after a severe cold, and sometimes the weath- 

 er changes several times a day." 



Whether since 1749 these sudden changes of 

 temperature have become more frequent or not, I 

 have no satisfactory means of determining, but 

 am inclined to think such to be the case ; but 

 new or old as a meteorological freak, a cold 

 wave is worthy of the rambler's study, in spite of 

 the discomforts sure to be encountered, for it 



