FIELD-DAYS IN CALIFORNIA 



mornings in question, standing still a consider- 

 able part of the time to make notes or listen, 

 and never once thinking of ears or fingers; upon 

 which the photographer smiled and advised him 

 to consult the railroad station-master, who, it ap- 

 peared, had a government thermometer, and was 

 the official keeper of the local weather record. 

 Well, the station-master was complaisant, al- 

 though an official, and, on turning to his tally- 

 sheet, found that on the two previous mornings 

 the glass had registered respectively zero and 

 two above zero. 



The man from Massachusetts was dumb. He 

 had heard, as every one has, of the efficacy of a 

 dry atmosphere in tempering the impression of 

 cold, but he found at this minute that he had 

 never really taken it in. If he had known the 

 standing of the thermometer he certainly would 

 not have worn his summer hat, and would prob- 

 ably have thought it prudent now and then to 

 try his ears. Three or four mornings afterward, 

 though the mercury was only a few degrees 

 lower (five degrees below zero), he confesses that 

 he did not loiter. With a raw wind from the north 

 and the air full of snow, a somewhat rapid gait 

 was taken, as by instinct. In fact, the weather 

 was so much like home that it almost made him 

 homesick — for California. 

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