224 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



pleasure. The snow has dropped from 

 the firs and now only lightens their 

 shadows, and on the ground acts as a 

 tablet of wax to receive the etched 

 impressions of the trees; sharp grass 

 blades pierce through the depressions 

 and little thaw pools outline the foot- 

 path. On a day like this, forms are 

 unmuffled and the lines are clear cut. 

 The trees show all their muscles and 

 sinews, and the rocks, brightly stained 

 by lichens, peer between their grim 

 boles. Now the reign of the ever- 

 greens — trees, ferns, and mosses — 

 triumphantly begins. The Christmas 

 tree by the hearth centres the heart- 

 beats of winter, and its mates in the 

 copse take out of doors the same 

 Christmas feeling, and spreading their 

 loving arms draw the brave little birds 

 to shelter, and, to satisfy their hunger, 

 dangle before them well-thatched cone- 

 granaries. 



