456 
RURAL HOURS 
One always markwS the ice gatliering about them with regret. Xo 
change of wind or weather short of this can destroy their beauty. 
Even in December, when the woods are bare and dreary, Avhen 
the snow hes upon tlie earth, the lake will often look lovely as in 
summer — now clear, gay blue ; now still, deep gray ; then again 
varied with delicate tints of rose and purple, and green, which we 
had beheved all fled to the skies. 
At 1 o'clock this morning the thermometer was three degrees 
above zero ; this evening it has risen to twenty-six degrees. 
Tuesday, dth. — Much milder ; no more frost-work on the win- 
dows. Sparrows flitting about. We have seen more of them 
than usual this winter. 
The hens are beginning to lay ; a few eggs brought in from the 
poultry-yard. The eggs of this county have a great reputation 
among the dealers wlio supply the large towns. They are con- 
sidered superior to those of other counties, probably from their 
size ; no other eggs but those of Canada rank as high as ours in 
the city markets. 
Wednesday, lOth — Bright, cold day. Thermometer 6° helow 
zero this morning. 
The California gold mania has broken out among us. Two 
months since we knew nothing of these mines. Noav, many of 
our young men, ay, and old men, too, have their heads full of them, 
eager to be off. A company for emigration is forming in the 
county, and the notices are posted up on the village trees in every 
direction. 
How fortunate it was, or, rather, how clearly providential, that 
those tempting placers were not found on the Atlantic coast by our 
ancestors ! Well for them, and for us their descendants, that the 
