228 TROUT FISHING 



mass ; it was like a scene from fairyland 

 in the broad light of day. By and by, 

 without having noticed the contact at the 

 first moment, I found myself swathed. 

 The column was around me, and above ; 

 quite high above, I noticed on looking 

 upward ; around and above, too, the 

 strange column, or rather that of which 

 it was composed, small fluttering white 

 things, still caught the sunbeams, and 

 seemed to toss them to and fro. 



It was snowing ; and while the small 

 fleecy crystals fell, as is their wont, the 

 exquisite thin cloud from which they 

 came, the magical column, rose ! 



In a few mhmtes, as mysteriously as 

 it had appeared, it ceased to be ; and 

 where it had been, the tranquil sunlight 

 lay. 



This made one think about certain 

 speculations of the learned. These flakes 

 of snow, beautiful, each in perfect 

 harmony with a design beyond all 

 human ken, could not, in one sense, be 

 said to have been evolved. They had 



