as though these were indeed the messengers of 

 peace. 



Recently there fell such a clinging and abun- 

 dant snow as comes perhaps only once in a season, 

 and some years not at all. The woods were literally 

 buried and saplings everywhere bent to the ground 

 beneath its weight. It enveloped the pines until 

 they became miniature Alps in the landscape, 

 while among the oaks were gleaming corridors 

 and marble halls. The open, barren aspedt common 

 to winter was gone, and the dense walls had shut 

 in again as in summer, but now crystalline and 

 dazzling. 



This is perhaps Nature's greatest transformation. 

 In a single night have been eredted such palaces 

 as were never seen in Persia. What a bold, free 

 hand wrought here! In the thousand domes and 

 arches is a massive architedture, relieved by the 

 utmost delicacy, as though Nature said, "Behold, 

 I show you a miracle." A miracle indeed! Here 

 have wrought the genii of the air while mortals 

 slept, and all that was to be heard was the 

 rustling of their wings. At such times the woods 

 grow suddenly strange and unfamiliar. They so 

 lend themselves to the enchantment we are lost in 



154 



