502 
RURAL HOURS. 
harmless creature, though forbidding in its aspect. It feeds on 
the bark and leaves of the hemlock, ash, and basswood. lu our 
northern counties, they are still quite numerous. They leave their 
spines in the bodies of their enemies, but are easily killed by a 
blow on the nose. The Indians of many tribes seem to have had 
a great fancy for the porcupine quills, showing much ingenuity in 
using them for ornamental purposes. 
Such, with the rabbit, and hare, and the squirrels, are the more 
important quadrupeds of this part of the country ; all these were 
doubtless much more numerous in the time of the Red man than 
to-day, and probably many of the species will entirely disappear 
from our woods and hills, in the course of the next century. They 
have already become so rare in the cultivated parts of the coun- 
try, that most people forget their existence, and are more familiar 
with the history of the half-fabulous Unicorn, than with that of 
the American panther or moose. 
Wednesday, 14<A. — Cold day. Quite a rosy flush on the lake, 
or rather on the ice and snow which cover it ; there are at times 
singular effects of light and shade upon the lake at this season, 
when passing clouds throw a shadow upon it, and give to the 
broad white field very much the look of gray water. 
It is St. Valentine’s day, and valentines by the thousand are 
passing through the post-offices all over the country. Within the 
last few years, the number of these letters is said to have become 
really astonishing ; we heard that 20,000 passed through the 
New York post-office last year, but one cannot vouch for the pre- 
cise number. They are going out of favor now, however, having 
been much abused of late years. 
The old Dutch colonists had a singular way of keeping this 
