Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-14

ing air. lodging on every twig. hanging in great
white puffs upon the caves of all the houses,
heaped on every railing, cushiOning everything
that could hold feathers weight. All night
long this brCathless. freezing calm had con-
tinued and all night long the silent flakes had
fallen. that when the morning came the
earth hidden beneath coverlet
a. white swansdOwn and as light.
The sun lit millions of tiny. many -hued fires in
the cy prisms and filled the shadows with pale
blI.ish light. The fleecy mass did not reflect
the sunshine. but absorbed 1t. giving back soft,
varied tones. rather than the hard-glariug light
of the ordinary snow surface The world was
like a marble tomb for whiteness and for
silence. but like a cOverlet of down for sOftness
and invitation to repOse.
The trees whose branches were bare seen at O
little distance. merged into the universal white
ness: near at hand they seemed a network of
soft white flaments which tempted the eve to
pursue with unceasing delight the intricacies of
an evC--changlng pattern The eyergreens in
the yard-. upon the public squares and on the
distant hillsides bore tiny heaps Of down upon
every flatteued surface. and above the spread
ing laterals were great swelling heaps as
smoothly rounded and as white as a thrifty
housewives pillows. A hint of green showed at
the very tips of the bent-dOwn limbs and in the
spaces between the Overhanging screens. The
smoke rose from the chimneys in straight dun
columns. the top. hattened into creamy waves
which melted imperceptibly into sunlit space.
The snow was so light and the fakes of fiat.
gauzy network were so solidly frozen and so
deity interlOcked that il formed great cushions
on al surfaces apPrOximating the horizontal
without crushing and sliding. In the streets or
"oa the level. as we say, 1t came above the
knee, but one waded through it as easily as if it
were the fullest of lint cotton. 1t was not
damp enough to pack beneath the feet nor hard
enough to grind like sand. In truth. it
seemed rather to yield in all directions
h. e.
sion like ordinary snow. Dogs ran
about IN 1t where it was above their heads, leav-
ing only trembling. sinUOus line. marked. per-
haps. by the tip of waving tail showing above
the white surface. After going little way they
would abandon this method and proceed by a
series of leaps above and plunges into the yield
ing EasS.
In the little town of Hardnsville the people
were late astIr. The frost had crept into the
houses and chilled the housewives ardor, while
the breathess calm without had deceived the
sleepers. accustomed TO have their ears confirm
the changing story which the clocks bruzen
tongue ayOuched. with circumstantial evidence
thai the world was awake and astir. But even
the cocks crow was muffied in the universal
hUcculence. and the outside world was as silent
as the realm of shadows. When they at length
appeared outside their doors they noted
some curious effects. The snow was
81 light there was no resonance. Voices near
at hand sounded weak and thin. The stiffness
seemed really palpable. One saw that people
were clearing off the sid ,walks and shoveling
paths; that they r're calling To each other
the streets; tllst iildren and dogs were play
ing in the dOwny snow; but only those sounds
close at hand could be heard, and they were
greatly softened.
The town was usually busy one. but this
morning no one seemed to think of work. Clerks
and employers alike stood gazing out of the
windows. The cobbler sat with his awl hand
upon the awl which he had driven home. but
forgotten to draw out. while the blacksmith. the
earliest and nOisiest of workers. let the fire die