336 
XXV. 
DECEMBER 1st. 
Uses of Winter. — Our Feelings an insufficient Criterion of Temperature. 
— Cause of this. — Thickness of Animals' Coats in Winter. — Effects 
of Change of Climate. — ■ Hair of Caterpillars. — Termination of Agri- 
cultural Occupations. — Butchering. — Freezing of Carcases. — Hyber- 
nation of Reptiles. — Case-flies. — Podurcs — various Modes of Loco- 
motion. — Freezing of the River. — Winter Condition of Fishes. — 
Subaqueous Sensations. — Reflection from the Surface of Air. — Yel- 
low-bird. — Canada Jay. — Downy Woodpecker. — Blind Prejudice. — 
Tempest in the Forest — its Effects. — Grandeur of God. 
Father. — - The rains of autumn have now fairly yielded 
to the frosts of winter ; our long season of cold weather has 
set in ; — 
" And skies their wintry sternness wear." 
Charles. — How dreary and desolate an appearance the 
face of Nature now presents ? no longer smiling in loveli- 
ness either in forest or in field. The trees^ stripped of their 
rich foliage^ stretch their naked and contorted arms abroad^ 
like gaunt skeletons ; the streams and brooks, where the sun- 
beams played in the sparkling waters^, are sealed up and 
still ; and the verdure of the field is exchanged for a wide 
and unbroken waste of snow ; and animate nature is as 
dead and silent as inanimate : nothing moves but the 
tops of the leafless trees in the wind : nothing is heard but 
the sighing of the gale through the boughs. Oh ! I do not 
love winter : it is cheerless and depressing ; give me the 
