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222 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



What silence ! the cold has chained 

 even the waves of sound, and the new 

 snow muffles the echoes. Open the 

 frost-engraved window; the air enters 

 in half-vapourized particles, cutting 

 the throat and nostrils like diamond 

 dust. Yellow light covers the snow, 

 not sunlight nor light from the sun's 

 direction, but a weighed-down refrac- 

 tion; the solid brown sky shades to 

 buff toward the eastward, the landscape 

 perspective is altered, and there are 

 no shadows. The sociable, nestling 

 snow has no depth and thaws at a 

 breath, yet it is a magician, writing 

 cheerful winter on everything, and it 

 is the fitting interpreter for the sea- 

 son of silence, when Nature's voice is 

 hushed and she is less responsive. 



There comes a faint, lisping chirp, 

 and a flock of white-vested juncos 

 wheel from the arbour. Many hopes 



