12 • STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



from the skies, and the drifts are rapidly accumulating 

 along the sides of the fences, and in the lanes and hol- 

 lows. The peculiar motion of the winds, while eddy- 

 ing and whirling over the varied surface of the ground, 

 is rendered more apparent than by any other phenome- 

 non. Every curve and every irregular twisting of the 

 wind is made palpable, to a degree that is never wit- 

 nessed in the whirling leaves of autumn, in the sand 

 of the desert, or in the dashing spray of the ocean. 

 The appearance is less exciting, when the snow de- 

 scends through a perfectly still atmosphere; but after 

 its cessation, we may witness a spectacle of singular 

 beauty. There has been no wind to disturb the snow- 

 flakes as they were deposited on the branches of the 

 trees, to which they adhere, and hang from them like 

 a drapery of muslin. Then do we see throughout the 

 woods the mimic splendor of June ; and the plumage 

 of snow that hangs from the branches, revives in fancy's 

 eye the white clustering blossoms of the orchards in 

 early summer. 



Sometimes when the woods are fully wreathed in 

 snow-flakes, and the earth is clothed in an interminable 

 robe of ermine, the full moon rises upon the landscape, 

 and illumines the whole scene with a kind of unearthly 

 splendor. If we wake out of sleep into a sudden view 

 of this enchanted scene, though the mind be depressed 

 with sorrow, it is impossible, without rapture, to con- 

 template the glorious prospect. The unblemished 

 purity of the snow picture, before the senses are 

 awakened to a full and realizing consciousness of our' 

 situation, glows upon the vision, like a scene from that 

 fairy world which has often gleamed upon the soul 

 during its youthful season of romance and poetry. 

 And when the early rays of morning penetrate these 



