ON THE WEATHER 



^K HE landscape is inseparable from the 

 ^^ weather. Every change in tempera- 

 ture, wind or humidity introduces a 

 corresponding change in the aspect of 

 mountain and lake. To my way of think- 

 ing these changes present differences not 

 of degree, but of quality only. The land- 

 scape always seems to me equally beautiful, 

 whether in rain, or mist, or full sun. I 

 have studied the woods with a camera in 

 all weathers,— have photographed them in 

 the noonday shine, in fog, in silvery mist, 

 in pouring rain and in a driving January 

 blizzard; and while the camera, of course, 

 works better in some atmospheres than in 

 others, the woods themselves are never 

 diminished in beauty by the state of the 

 weather. If we begin to talk about different 

 degrees of merit we shall be forced to admit, 

 of course, that some of the most beautiful 

 effects in landscape are developed in what 

 ignorant and superstitious people call bad 

 weather. The prairies in a snow-squall are 



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