ACROSS LOTS 



I. 



A MAECH KAMBLE. 



Maech, in New England, is the disputable 

 month between the seasons spring and winter; 

 the space, as it were, between the picket lines of 

 both armies, where many battles are fought for the 

 mastery and power of governing the land. Win- 

 ter commands Boreas to station his wind batteries 

 on the bleak Northern hills to belch forth a storm of 

 snow and hail, and a general frigid icicle charge is 

 ordered along the whole line until not a vestige of 

 spring is seen. Then the frost army, wearied with 

 its fierce onslaught, sleeps, and the vernal force, 

 driven far southward, turns again its face toward 

 the foe, insidiously creeps along the flank, and 

 takes the gray old general in his fancied stronghold 

 by surprise. There is a peculiar quality iu the air, 

 which tells you it is the breath of spring. The 

 snow melts on the southern slopes and your eyes 



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