
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
OUR MIRROR OF THE MONTHS. 
JANUARY, 

Tis now the fowls of Heaven, 
Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around 
The winnowing store, and claim the little boon 
Which Providence assigns them. 
CowreERr. 

Close behind the woodman’s heel 
His dog creeps slow ; and now with many a frisk, 
Wide scamp’ring, snatches up the drifted snow 
With iv’ry teeth; or ploughs it with his snout— 
Then shakes his powder’d coat, and barks for joy. 

» APPY,—TRULY HAPPY, OUGHT 
® EVERYBODY TO BE IN THE 
MONTH OF JANUARY. Cold 
without, and cheerless, yet is 
it a month of universal rejoicing 
within; and beginning as it 
does a New Year, it affords us 
all noble opportunities for doing 
good ona large scale. If we were “ good”’ 
last year, let us be “better” this. There is 
plenty of room for improvement in us ALL. 
An honorable strife lies before us. 
We always rejoice in the month of January, 
because it brings before us so much of the 
better part of human nature. Our boys and 
our girls will not let us be stiff, formal, polite, 
and “ fashionable’’—now. They cannot un- 
derstand these things in the Christmas 
holidays. They must enjoy themselves 
in sight-seeing, sliding, skating, romping, 
running, and playing. This last pastime 
includes all we could say, were we to talk 
for a month. And how we papas and mammas 
do enter into the little pleasures of our 
juveniles! Do we not feel ourselves young 
again for their sakes, and dance away with 
them till we are fairly out of breath? Of 
course we do! and thus bid defiance to all 
the prudes and withered parchment in the 
kingdom. 
And is there nothing else that we do to 
make ourselves agreeable, and to keep up 
the “good old customs?” Oh,—yes! If 
the boys romp, and the girls romp, WE must 
romp too. If sly, arch-looking faces, will 
contrive mysteriously to lead us under a 
certain tempting bough, of course we will 
pay and receive tribute,—joyfully. Our age 
confers on us immense privileges in this way. 
We are looked upon as “ lawful’ sport, and 
there is positively no end of the sweet 
benedictions showered upon us. Well; do 
we not love it to be so? = Most assuredly ! 
We need not enter minutely into the 
sayings and doings peculiar to this month of 
merry-making. ‘The happy, innocent faces 
that meet us at every turn, tell us plainly 
that the great secret of happiness is known 
to one and all. Care flits trom every brow. 
The present moment seems to be alone 
thought of, and family circles unite in love 
and harmony. This is what we rejoice in 


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393 
We only regret that such things 
should be ephemeral. However, we will not 
debate about that now. Exhibitions of all 
kinds are in active request by day, and 
merry parties are in vogue when darkness 
covers the earth. Of these fire-side delights 
we need say nothing. If we see one, we see 
all. Nature is now holding her court; and 
where she is, all must be concord and amity. 
Long may she reign! Twelfth-night is at 
hand, too! What doings we shall all have! 
It is our wont, as well as our delight, to 
chat monthly about what is doing ouwt-of- 
doors. This, however, would be mal-apropos, 
we fear, at the present time. Few will 
believe that there can be anything now to 
admire in the fields, or any inducement to 
wander forth fora bracing walk. We cannot 
agree with those who thus think; but we 
can make every allowance for them. People 
living in towns and cities are so used to good 
fires, and are so little accustomed to range 
abroad in the country, that habit confirms 
their prejudices. We, however, who live in 
the country, see charms in it at all times; 
and a walk is to us, even when the weather 
is most intensely cold, a real treat. 
Who suffers most in the matter of health 
and sickness,—the man who lives in town, 
or the man who lives in the country (we 
mean during the season of winter)? Ask 
our medical men. If they speak truth, they 
will tell you there is no comparison between 
the two cases. The one is continually 
ailing ; suffering from cold, &c.,—the other 
is ever on the alert, healthy, hungry,—jolly. 
Exercise and fresh-air are a positive terror 
to our medical men. They want delicate 
patients. Londoners, however, care little 
for air and exercise; and consequently are 
for ever on the sick list. Thus doth medicine 
form a principal part of their diet. 
It would be vain for us to comment on 
the various maladies that are about to visit 
us,—colds, coughs, catarrhs, bronchitis, &c., 
&e. At least one half of these are brought 
on by our own imprudence. “ Fashion’’ will 
have her own way in dictating articles of 
apparel, and our fashionable women will 
continue to do as they ever have done. 
Hence is their punishment just. We really 
have no pity for them. But we must away. 
Judging from the aspect of the weather, 
whilst we write, we may anticipate frost, 
snow, and a severe winter. We shall gladly 
bid them all welcome. We really require 
an old-fashioned winter, to regenerate the 
earth. The very thought of snow makes 
one feel poetical ; and as for hoar frost,— 
beholding. 
What dream of beauty ever equall'd this ? 
What bands of fairy-land have sallied forth, 
With all the foliage of the abundant North, 
With imagery from the realms of bliss! 
What visions of our boyhood do we miss 

AA 
aT 
