SNOW 173 
vation of animal life and ultimate melting of 
these accumulated drifts. Around each trunk 
or stone the snow has melted and fallen back. 
It is a singular fact, established beyond doubt 
by science, that the snow is absolutely less 
influenced by the direct rays of the sun than 
by these reflections. “If a blackened card is 
placed upon the snow or ice in the sunshine, 
the frozen mass underneath it will be gradually 
thawed, while that by which it is surrounded, 
though exposed to the full power of solar heat, 
is but little disturbed. If, however, we reflect 
the sun’s rays from a metal surface, an exactly 
contrary result takes place: the uncovered 
parts are the first to melt, and the blackened 
card stands high above the surrounding por- 
tion.” Look round upon this buried meadow, 
and you will see emerging through the white 
surface a thousand stalks of grass, sedge, os- 
munda, goldenrod, mullein, Saint John’s-wort, 
plantain, and eupatorium, —an allied army of 
the sun, keeping up a perpetual volley of innu- 
merable rays upon the yielding snow. 
It is their last dying service. We misplace 
our tenderness in winter, and look with pity 
upon the leafless trees. But there is no tra- 
gedy in the trees: each is not dead, but sleep- 
eth; and each bears a future summer of buds 
safe nestled on its bosom, as a mother reposes 
