82 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
that roast you on one side while you freeze on the 
other ! One resigns one's self with as good a grace as 
possible to the cold of a Southern winter, against 
which one is so defenseless, when you discover that 
a change has come. The snow is all gone. You are a 
little surprised, and crestfallen, to find that the ex- 
treme cold you grumbled so about has lasted just 
three days. Sometimes there comes a day of witch- 
ery, when the flakes are large and soft, and there is no 
wind. Softly, swiftly, the white mantle covers the 
earth, shrouds the trees, the green bushes, and the 
tall, brown weeds. How lovely is the pine forest at 
such a time! Enjoy it while you can, for by night 
fairyland will have vanished. 
Thus the snow comes and goes. In the high 
mountains, it comes earlier, and stays longer, but 
you will not find any noticeable preparation for 
winter. Even the sleds you sometimes see are used 
to haul wood in summer. 
Days of fury are followed by days of sweetness 
and warmth, when walking leisurely about you won- 
der at the size of the laurel and azalea buds and the 
buttons on the dogwood trees. These things keep 
on growing as though they did not really believe in 
winter — and what is that? A large gauzy-winged 
grasshopper leaps up and sails away at your ap- 
proach. As you watch the light on the wings of 
these insects that dart up one by one before you, as 
you look over the green forest shining in the warm 
sun, you forget where you are; for a moment you 
think it is summer. The wren has evidently made 
