202 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



But his generalization was hasty, as generali- 

 zations are apt to be. They were Brewer's black- 

 birds — the handsomest of grackles ; birds that I 

 had seen for the first time, at Del Eio, only the 

 week before. I did not stay to admire their iri- 

 descence, but declining an invitation to ride (it 

 was too cold for that, though the man was just 

 going to harness up, he said), I buttoned another 

 button and hastened on. The two or three per- 

 sons I met each had something to say about the 

 weather, but nobody stopped for prolonged com- 

 ment. Short speeches and quick steps, or another 

 crack at the mule, were the order of the day. 

 Even at the South a man will generally hurry a 

 little rather than freeze to death. 



Well, the experience was more amusing than 

 uncomfortable, after all, and I reached the hotel 

 door just as rain began falling. Before night 

 snow was mingled with the rain, and the next 

 morning I saw a small boy, his eyes dancing with 

 brightness, making a tiny snow image to stand 

 upon the front-yard fence, while the mountains 

 — that fairly surround the city, as they do the 

 Holy City in the Hebrew psalm — were dazzling 

 white. The mud was beyond belief, the walking 

 laborious; but as I paused now and then for 

 breath or to recover my footing, and saw all that 

 glory about me, I thanked my stars that I was 



