DECEMBER 251 



are all preparing at that time for their grand 

 onward rush into beauty and bloom. 



I fear it needs such philosophizing on the 

 snow to console me for the fact that walking 

 at this time of the year is rather tiring, if one 

 cares to leave the broken track and plunge 

 through the woods and along the stream, 

 beneath the snow-laden hemlocks and the 

 cold, naked oaks and elms and maples. 

 But if one does not go so far afield, he ap- 

 preciates all the better whatever sight may 

 be silhouetted against the sharp background, 

 or whatever sound breaks out of the crisp 

 stillness, unbroken by the rustle of leaves, 

 the carol of birds, or the chirp of insects. 

 When we add to this the glorious sense Of 

 exhilaration with which one is filled after 

 the battle with the wind and the cold, a 

 winter walk is not without its allurements 

 to the nature lover sufficiently hearty to 

 withstand its rigors. 



WINTER MTJSIC 



This is winter. This morning the wagon? 

 creaked as their wheels went over the snow 



