THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS $7 



genial ; dress for it, and push out and see what 

 endless charms it has for you. There is al- 

 ways sc much mystery in it, things are all so 

 covered and hidden away. Trees are laid bare, 

 strange birds call out glad notes from the woods 

 and fields. Oh! so many strange noises and 

 strange silences and sights. The snow is very 

 picturesque on tree and bush and fence and 

 boulder. 



The brook, once so fairly giggling with dan- 

 cing mirth-flows, now is quite hushed and hid- 

 den away as if it, too, were a forbidden thing 

 to see. I followed our brook up, one clear, 

 cold day, for miles, and it was so singularly in- 

 teresting and enchanting. I had seen it in the 

 spring, and noted the first frog peeps, the first 

 watercresses, familiar wit-h its shy and swift 

 minnows and the deep places where they lux- 

 uriated — now all is locked up under rigorous 

 icelids, with here and there a bit of an opening, 

 as if a breathing spot; but listening I could 

 hear it singing its old glad songs, a little sub- 

 dued, yet with no chill in its tone, and I was 

 content to await the spring opening. How rich, 

 after all, are the snow and ice and winds and 

 clouds and cold — and everything. Surely, the 

 genuine lover of Nature is in sympathy with all 

 her moods and tenses and persons and num- 



