The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-02
Set Forth and Defended by Logic
and Quotations From tho
Poets.
Not by Any Means Wanting Ia
Features That Delight
tho Heart.
Only EARLY Spring and RipsninK Autumn
May Claim superiority Over the
Winter Season.

- WShNOs ~ ~ IA - uDlCl
OF acorn. to persons who Avow q prefsrenc,
for some particular season; who deolsr.
that the charm Of the year has vanished
with the pale spring flowers, or threaten Il
shut thennsslvss up for the winter when th,
last rose OF summer has really bloomsd
Such an inconsidorste prspossession IN, Il
say the least Of it, ungracious to boor
nature. She works indsfstigably to pro-
vide her admirers with fresh scenes 81
beauty at each season. Her intirnates 70.
joics to find new delights each month; he1
lovers recognize hidden gracss and JOYS an.
suspected by ordinary people lsvishly dis.
played week after week for their thankful
vision. A few chosen souls can draw still
closer to her heart OF hearts. Thus Elmer
son tells M OF Thorsau, that. one day dur
Ing = walk. "he looked for the ~msnyanthes,
detected il across the wide pool, and ON ex-
animation Of the 1orets decided that il had
been in dower hvs days. He drew ont OF
his pocket the diary and read the names OF
all the plants that should bloom on that
day, whereof be kept account 90 1 banker
when his notes fall due. The sypripsdum
not due till tomorrow" and 90 forth. The
only seasonal preferences We would allow
are sprinRtids and summer, with all their
hopes and promise to the young; autumn
and winter asdgsd with silver memories for
the Did. AZ for ourselves, says q writer in
the Gsntlemsn's Magazine, 10 have not yet
found ont which season to love most.
Each brings its own delights, and only casts
. tenderer halo round the grave Of it, pro
decsssor. Rightly looked At, each becomes
m apotheosis Of thankfnlnsss. II We owe
the least favor to one season rather than
another it 10 to winter; partly because OF 4
certain pity for the hatred 90 generally
poured upon II; perhaps from 4 more selfish
and certainly a more illogical motive-be-
cause it Offers fewer excuses for deserving
books and the chimney corner. Amid all
natures kaleid0scopio changes winter pes
sesses substantial claims to Heterogeneous,
II q man will open his eyes to it.
1t 10 curious how seldom auhsors have
grown enthusiastic on winter, Few if any,
English prose writer's have dwolt upon It's
Beauties. In An srica. ~ il only natural
considering the length Of tbs wIRtsr season,
several have essaysd to celebrate its charms.
conspicuous among whom are Thoreau and
Lowell. THE p%rsludings of winter are as
beautiful as those Of syringe" writes the
latter; sin a gray December day, when, as
the farmer says, il is too cold to snow.
his numbed fingers will let fall doubt
fully q few star-shapsd flakes; aud
when at last the real snow storm comes. il
leaves the earth with q virginia. look ON ii
that no other of tho seasons can rival,
compared with which they seem soilsd and
vulgar" PROMINENT among our poets of
winter are Cowpsr and Thomson. The
former may have noticed with most men
the splendOrs in which \ winter day begins,
those crimson folds Of clond which delight
an artists eye as they are seen beyond som
D0r mAA00n Of nina fnlinOA hnk hia mot
vision ID keensr and puraues the effect fur
Their; SO he tells how the SUMS slanting
raw
slides Intellectual down the snowy vale,
AND. tinging all With his own rosy hue,
From every herb and every spiry blade
Stretches length of shadow Ger the ~feld-Taskv.
With many a graphic touch Thomson re-
minds rs OF the signs accompanying the
breakup of settled weather.
enatohed in short eddies plays tho withered Leaf,
And on tho Hood the dancing feather floats.
Andthsn, with more "reminiscences of Vir-
obsorvant verse, he adds a beautiful
account of frost: 1tE s1
S W;th 70 eager 4Hrn. from ron the red horizon round
ICY gale. oft shifting, DER the pool AZ
a blue film, and in it's mid career
Arrests the pickering stream.
he follows up the delicate PROCESS in
dainty words until,
Fast grows, or gathers round tho pointed stone
crystal pavement. by the breath of heaven
firm.
And in due time comes the snow, de-
Hcribed in many felicitous lines, of which
The chez ished fields
Pat on their winter robe of pureat white;
Il is brightness all, save where the new snow melts
along the Macy current.
Few poets are more unjustly neglected
Ehan Ih0InRQn at NracnOt vat pnultitvlon
Of volumes OF poets whom certain critics
delight to honor. cannot so much as be
named by his side. His was a true poets
Insight into nature, and not seldom are his
thoughts welded to striking words.
AZ II to emphasize the p~icturssqueness of
the country when lying under snow, town
life and town sights are then doably an
and ugly. Tie dinpv snow.
trampled assiduously by gin-palace and
rowdedt horoughfare. churned bv wheels
INTO sticky slush, ewept into foul yellow
md brown heaps by the / avements, trans
Tor the unwary footpasssnger-what greater
can there be to the crisp, sxhila-
manner in which the foot sinks
nto the cleaning white sxpanse out
tide the woodlands? And. once inside the
woods. how warm is the air, how charming
he folds of snow wrsathing over the edges
If the bitches INT depending from the
'pruce frs. Overhead a sprightly cloud OF
its twitter along as chserfully az if it were
midsummer, in no wise deferred by the
,old IRON tearing open the fir cones. The
.olden c'ests fit through and through the
ower branches Of the pines, themselves the
of our birds, and stop a moment
there We will. in the lane, tho side Of the
leld. or here in the heart of the fir woods,
8 the bird most identified with winter.
Inc rcdbreast il, indeed, ubiquitous at
ms season, and now
I1o,ao1 with III, ,x1:..l ,,. "