FORMER INHABITANTS; AND 
WINTER VISITORS. 
I weathered some merry snow storms, and spent 
some cheerful winter evenings by my fire-side, while the 
snow whirled wildly without, and even the hooting of the 
owl was hushed. For many weeks I met no one in my 
walks but those who came occasionally to cut wood and 
sled it to the village. The elements, however, abetted 
me in making a path through the deepest snow in the 
woods, for when I had once gone through the wind blew 
the oak leaves into my tracks, where they lodged, and 
by absorbing the rays of the sun melted the snow, and 
so not only made a dry bed for my feet, but in the night 
their dark line was my guide. For human society I 
was obliged to conjure up the former occupants of these 
woods. Within the memory of many of my townsmen 
the road near which my house stands resounded with 
the laugh and gossip of inhabitants, and the woods which 
border it were notched and dotted here and there with 
their little gardens and dwellings, though it was then 
much more shut in by the forest than now. In some 
places, within my own remembrance, the pines would 
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