SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 577 



indeed, than one has any right to expect of Hfe ; it is a 

 fairy tale from another world, from a life to come. 



" And then to return home to one's cozy study-cabin, 

 kindle the stove, light the lamp, fill a pipe, stretch one's 

 self on the sofa, and send dreams out into the world with 

 the curling clouds of smoke — is that a dire infliction? 

 Thus I catch myself sitting staring at the fire for hours 

 together, dreaming myself away — a useful way of em- 

 ploying the time. But at least it makes it slip unnoticed 

 by, until the dreams are swept away in an ice- blast of 

 reality, and I sit here m the midst of desolation, and 

 nervously set to work again. 



"Wednesday, November 14th. How marvellous are 

 these snow-shoe runs through this silent nature ! The 

 ice-fields stretch all around, bathed in the silver moon- 

 light ; here and there dark cold shadows project from the 

 hummocks, whose sides faintly reflect the twilight. Far, 

 far out a dark line marks the horizon, formed by the 

 packed-up ice, over it a shimmer of silvery vapor, and 

 above all the boundless deep-blue, starry sky, where the 

 full moon sails through the ether. But in the south is 

 a faint glimmer of day low down of a dark, glowing red 

 hue, and higher up a clear yellow and pale-green arch, 

 that loses itself in the blue above. The whole melts into 

 a pure harmony, one and indescribable. At times one 

 lono^s to be able to translate such scenes into music. 

 What mighty chords one would require to interpret 



them! 



37 



