X. 



WINTER SKETCHES. 



This flight of snow gives a zest, a relishing fla- 

 vor to the Winter, which has until now been with- 

 out its white covering; and I go forth to see the 

 earth in a different phase. 



How effectually the snow has shifted the scenes 

 and masked her face ! Every foot-fall is muffled ; 

 every angle is now a curve. That sharp, ragged 

 ledge has been completely upholstered with the 

 white ermine showing a hundred plump shoulders, 

 pillows and bosses. The branch lines of the oaks 

 and maples, drawn in brown and white crayon, 

 are in beautiful relief against the sky, while the 

 tall, straight hickories on the hill in the distance 

 sugge'st to the mind a forest of ships' masts, with 

 the white sails snugly clewed to the square yards 

 and stays. The slim, white birches appear actually 

 gray, when viewed against a snowy back-ground. 



But the richness of the snow tracery and flour- 

 ish, on pilaster and capital, soon falls to dust and 

 gkivers, for the Winter breezes are true icono- 



187 



