1.9 
II. 
FEBRUARY 1st. 
Silver Thaw. — Brilliance of the Meteor — its fragility. — Youthful Pros- 
pects. — Love of Nature. — Cause of the Phenomenon. — Virginian Deer. 
— Rackets. — Hair of the Deer. — Black-capped Titmouse — its Food — 
Song. — Anecdote. — Flakes of Snow — their beauty, variety, and regu- 
larity — difficulty of viewing and delineating them. — Perfection of the 
Divine Work. — Frosted Windows. — Uses of Snow. — Notes of the 
Winter of 1837-8. 
Father. — A rain has fallen during the night, which has 
touched the face of Nature with a magician's wand. Come^, 
and I will show you such a scene of splendour^ as you will 
not see every day. Observe the woods: every little twig 
of every tree, every bush, every blade of grass, is enshrined 
in crystal : here is a whole forest of sparkling, transparent 
glass, even to the minute needle-like leaves of the pines and 
firs. What are the candle-light lustres and chandeliers of 
the ball-room, compared with this ? Now the sun shines 
out ; see, what a glitter of light ! how the beams, broken as 
it were, into ten thousand fragments, sparkle and dance as 
they are reflected from the trees. 
Charles. — It is very beautiful. It reminds me of some 
of the fairy scenes in the Arabian Nights. 
F. — Yes ; it is a scene of brilliance ; but beautiful as it 
is, it is no less fragile : a slight touch from a rude hand is 
sufficient to destroy it : on my striking the trunk of this 
tree, see ! the air is filled with a descending shower of the 
glittering fragments, and the potent spell is broken at once ; 
