LV 



AN ICE-STORM 



OF all the vagaries of winter weather, 

 one of the rarest is the ice-storm ; rain 

 falling with a wind and from a quarter 

 that should bring snow, and freezing as 

 it falls, not penetrating the snow but 

 coating it with a shining armor, sheath- 

 ing every branch and twig in crystal and 

 fringing eaves with icicles of most fan- 

 tastic shapes. 



On ice-clad roofs and fields and crack- 

 ling trees the rain still beats with a 

 leaden clatter, unlike any other sound of 

 rain ; unlike the rebounding pelting of 

 hail or the swish of wind-blown snow. 



The trees begin to stoop under their 

 increasing burden, and then to crack 

 and groan as it is laid still heavier upon 

 them. At times is heard the thin, echo- 

 less crash of an overladen branch, first 

 bending to its downfall with a gathering 

 crackle of severed fibres, then with a 

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