DECEMBER DAYS 



gigantic phantoms stalk, silent and ma- 

 jestic, above the turmoil, till they fall in 

 wind-tossed showers of frost flakes. 



There are days when almost complete 

 silence possesses the woods, yet listening 

 intently one may hear the continual 

 movement of myriads of snow fleas pat- 

 tering on the fallen leaves like the soft, 

 purr of such showers as one might imagine 

 would fall in Lilliput. 



With footfall so light that he is seen 

 close at hand sooner than heard, a hare 

 limps past ; too early clad in his white 

 fur that shall make him inconspicuous 

 amid the winter snow, his coming shines 

 from afar through the gray underbrush 

 and on the tawny leaves. Unseen amid 

 his dun and gray environment, the ruffed 

 grouse skulks unheard, till he bursts away 

 in thunderous flight. Overhead, invisi- 

 ble in the lofty thicket of a hemlock's 

 foliage, a squirrel drops a slow patter of 

 cone chips, while undisturbed a nuthatch 

 winds his spiral way down the smooth 

 trunk. Faint and far away, yet clear, 

 "resound the axe strokes of a chopper, 

 and at intervals the muffled roar of a 

 tree's downfall. 



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