DEW AND FROST. 



Jrost. 



227 



AT sunrise to-day, by reason of the dew, the 

 whole earth was beautiful. Every harsh outline 

 was softened to comely roundness. Not even 

 an' ungainly fence scarred the landscape. In- 

 stead of Nature tortured out of shape, the out- 

 look was as a peep into a fairy-land. And all 

 by reason of the glittering dew. What is dew ? 

 Says the physical geography at hand : " When 

 at night the earth radiates the heat which it has 

 received during the day, the surface becomes 

 colder than the ground beneath or the air above. 

 Vapor rises from the moist soil below, to be con- 

 densed at the cooler surface. The adjacent lay- 

 er of air above is also cooled to its point of sat- 

 uration, and its vapor is deposited. This con- 

 densed moisture at the surface, whether from 

 the soil or the air, is dew. . . . Dew does not 

 fall, but is condensed on the best radiators, such 

 as grass and trees." 



Going no further into explanations, let us 

 consider the dewy morn as we find it. What of 

 this " early, bright, transient, and chaste " moist- 

 ure that bathes the world alike ? No, it does 

 not, by the way. Many a spot is dry as powder, 

 while elsewhere all is dripping. It does not do to 

 make sweeping assertions even about such a 



