339
Concord, Mass.
1897.
Nov. 20               
  At daybreak this morning the ground was covered by
about an inch of snow. The storm continued all day
but by night the depth of the snow was scarce three
inches. The weather moderated and the snow became damp
& heavy as the day wore on. There was almost no
wind and the snow clung to every branch & twig
giving the woods a most attractive aspect.
  This has been the most interesting and profitable
day that I have had here this autumn. I spent
nearly every hour of daylight in the woods attending
to the burning of the last brush piles but also
roaming about in every direction under the snow-laden
trees going twice to Davis's Hill, over through the
Prescott woods and back & forth in every direction
over the intervening ground. Altogether I must have
walked five or six miles & without the slightest
pain or fatigue. My lameness has at last wholly
disappeared.
The whole country was beautiful beyond description
in its robe of spotless white. The effect of the
snow on the trees was unusual. They were not
loaded down with masses of snow as is usually the case but each twig
& branch was merely "picked out" as it were, in 
white. The pines were especially beautiful the snow
clinging about the bases of each cluster of needles
leaving the tips exposed. The effect of the grasses
& weed stalks was most delicate of all.
  I had expected to find innumerable tracks of
birds and mammals but during my long walk I
saw only the footprints of one Skunk, three or four