THE WINTER NIGHT 



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along the Fraiiis sides are cleared away, and she stands 

 out like the crags from their winter covering decked with 

 the flowers of spring. The snow lying on the deck is 

 little by little shovelled overboard ; her rigging rises up 

 against the clear sky clean and dark, and the gilt trucks 

 at her mastheads sparkle in the sun. We go and bathe 

 ourselves in the broiling sun along her warm sides, where 

 the thermometer is actually above freezing-point, smoke a 

 peaceful pipe, gazing at the white spring clouds that 

 lightly fleet across the blue expanse. Some of us perhaps 

 think of spring-time yonder at home, when the birch- 

 trees are burstino- into leaf." 



