CHAPTER IV 



A CHAPTER OF THINGS TO SEE THIS WINTER 



THE first snowstorm ! I would not miss seeing 

 the first snowstorm, not if I had to climb up 

 to my high, tarry, smoky roof in the city 

 and lie down on my back, as I once did, in order to 

 shut out everything but the gray wavering flakes that 

 came scattering from the sky. But how marvelously 

 white and airy they looked, too, coming down over 

 the blackened city of roofs, transfiguring it with 

 their floating veil of purity ! You must see the first 

 snowfall, and, if you want to, jump and caper with 

 the flakes, as I always do. 



II 



The sorrows of winter are its storms. They are its 

 greatest glories also. One should no more miss the 

 sight of the winter storms than he should miss the 

 sight of the winter birds and stars, the winter suns 

 and moons ! A storm in summer is only an incident ; 

 in winter it is an event, a part of the main design. 

 Nature gives herself over by the month to the plan- 

 ning and bringing off of the winter storms vast 

 arctic shows, the dreams of her wildest moods, the 



