IS8 WINTKR SKETCHES. 



clasts and can not rest. No sooner have these 

 pictures been finished, when out from the North 

 come sweeping through the arches irreverent 

 gusts that break the idols into millions of frag- 

 ments. Little imps of whirlwinds waltz through 

 the columns overhead and brush off handful after 

 handful of fleur-de-lis and bits of perfect moulding, 

 feather and spangle. In a day the uneasy wind 

 has made sad havoc with the decoration on the 

 hard-wood trees, and the forest floor is strewn 

 with the debris — odds and ends of ornaments 

 that have made little pits and dimples, like mice 

 and bird tracks, in the white carpet underfoot. 



But the snow remains longer on the thick foli- 

 age of the evergreens, in the forms of cushions 

 and huge bears' paws that furnish good, warm 

 roofs for the birds. Many a partridge and quail, 

 the hardy finches and merry chickadees, must 

 have taken shelter under them last night. The 

 protection that this kind of cold wool gives to the 

 Winter animal and plant life is an important func- 

 tion in the economy of Nature. The stick and 

 leaf house of the squirrel and deer-mouse in yon- 

 der tree was relieved of various uncomfortable 

 draughts and made much warmer by the snow 

 chinsing; while the green blood of the radical 

 leaves of hosts of venturous perennial plants is 

 quickened by the soft, white mantle, so tenderly 

 laid over them. 



