ICICLE "ORGAN-PIPES" 



February 14, 1852. At the Cliffs, the rocks are 

 in some places covered with ice; and the least incli- 

 nation beyond a perpendicular in their faces is be- 

 trayed by the formation of icicles at once, which hang 

 perpendicularly, like organ pipes, in front of the 

 rock. They are now conducting jdownward the melt- 

 ing ice and snow, which drips from their points with 

 a slight clinking and lapsing sound, but when the 

 sun has set will freeze there and add to the icicles' 

 length. Where the icicles have reached the ground 

 and are like thick pillars, they have a sort of annu- 

 lar appearance, somewhat like the successive swells 

 on the legs of tables and on bed-posts. There is per- 

 haps a harmony between the turner's taste and the 

 law of nature in this instance. The shadow of the 

 water flowing or pulsating behind this transparent 

 icy crust or these stalactites in the sun imparts a 

 semblance of life to the whole. 



Journal, iii, 303. 



NORTH BRANCH NEAR HARRINGTON'S 



February 27, 1852. The main river is not yet 

 open but in very few places, but the North Branch, 

 which is so much more rapid, is open near Tarbell's 

 and Harrington's, where I walked to-day, and, flow- 

 ing with full tide bordered with ice on either side, 



