116 THE MOUNTAINS 



but that poem, with the "farmer's sighs" 

 and the "sled and traveler stopped" and 

 the "courier's feet delayed" and "all 

 friends shut out," can hardly be considered 

 inspiriting, even if the housemates do sit — 



"Around the radiant fireplace, inclosed 

 In a tumultuous privacy of storm." 



But in the third chapter of Nature, 

 Emerson writes in a very different vein. 

 He says : "I please myself with the graces 

 of the winter scenery, and believe that we 

 are as much touched by it as by the genial 

 influences of summer." It was, I confess, 

 a relief to discover this appreciation of 

 that side of winter which is as inspiriting 

 as it is beautiful ; for Emerson I deem one 

 of the truest and most authoritative inter- 

 preters of the natural world, and I could 

 never be altogether certain that my own 

 extreme fondness for the winter scene 

 might not be either the whimsey of a 

 nature-tyro or a "survival" of my New 

 England origin. 



