The Big Snow 195 



More commonly, it is a season of contradic- 

 tions — lumps and blotches of hard cold, 

 mixed with other lumps and blotches of April 

 weather and real Indian summer. 



Snow stops farm work, but brings no holi- 

 days. Joe went to bed each night as tired as 

 he was happy. This snow was twenty-six 

 inches on the level, with drifts over a tall 

 man's head. It began to fall just after day- 

 light, first in little round spiteful stinging pel- 

 lets, pelting so hard they jumped up at a 

 lively rate when first they struck the earth. 

 They came out of a lead-gray cloud that 

 seemed to rest upon the tree-tops, and were 

 whirled about by a sobbing gusty east wind. 

 Weatherwise people said, because it was an 

 east wind the snow was sure to turn into 

 either rain or sleet. According to their belief, 

 the wind could not veer from east to north 

 without boxing the whole compass. If once 

 it blew straight from the south, the snow 

 would melt, thaw and resolve into its original 

 element, water. 



When the wind did whip around north- 

 west, they shook their heads and said the 

 weather was not what it used to be. They 

 shook them still more when the pellets became 

 a smother of glistening icy dust so thick you 

 could hardly see ten yards through it. Pres- 

 ently, when the dust lay half-leg deep, the 



