CROSS-CUT VIEWS OF WINTER. 23 1 



after century tlie squeezing and pressing agency 

 has been going on, until the whole mass is again 

 changed to a concrete ledge. 



Although the inscriptions on this ancient monu- 

 ment have not been effaced, many of the charac- 

 ters are undecipherable, and the true history of it 

 cannot be written. A large white-oak has grown 

 so closely to one of its corners that the trunk has 

 become distorted, and grates on the pebble-plums 

 at every puff of the wind, as if the rock and the 

 tree were telling each other secrets. 



On the top of this monument the wind sifts a 

 magnificent heap of gems, broken stars, needles, 

 prisms, that must be melted down and return in 

 vapor to the cabinet above before they can be 

 formed into perfect shapes again. 



In these cedars, the locks of woolly snow that 

 have lodged in the thick leaves are blown off by 

 little whirlwinds that now and then roll silently 

 along, and scatter millions of powdery crystals 

 through the air, looking like puffs of white smoke. 

 How comfortable these evergreens appear in their 

 well-woven garments of green! It is a relief to 

 look on them, this cold white day, they give such 

 a fresh, cheerful aspect to the winter's landscape. 

 These spruces are the typical trees, high north- 



