The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-12
CIR / or THE VEN FALLEN SNOW.
Magic in Conventional Madison Avenue on
the Day After the Storm.

\ dull day Of lcaden, threatening skies came
upon the town after the first February SNOW
storm. but neither leaden skies nor lifeless air
could rob the streets of the grace that camo
with the new-fallen snow. Powdery and white
it lay all the morning on the less frequented
streets. breathing up into the air that invisible
something which. with the thermometer at 40.
Is 4 mere clammy. choking dampness. but with
the thermometer at % is an exhilaratinG.
frosty delight. Keen clear OF the busy streets
on such n morning: let your walk be. for ex-
ample. southwark along Madison avenue. below
Forty-second street. and you may recapture
perhaps for a short half hour that impression.
long vanished with most adults. which makes an
urban snowfall in this climate for children a
thing Of magic and ever-fresh surprise and
wonder. If the suburbs take on again their
vanished rural quality under a snowfall, the
city. on the other hand. is never more uncom-
promisingly urban than beneath this white
visitant from the upper air. To return to
Madison avenue, that thOroughfare is never
more the stately urban street. the dwelling
place Of a strictly ordered and conventional
civilization. than when its roofs are whitened
and its chimneys hooded with new-fallen snow.
Doubtless the professional meteorologist
could ~analyze into parts and learnedly label
the sum Of the impressions that made every
normal boy dwelling in Madison avenue greet
the morning with n whoop when he looked out
OF his bedroom window on tho day after the
last snowfall. To the unscientifc observer 1t
was something that mysteriously appealed to
all the senses at once. At the same instant
It felt OF winter. tasted OF winter. smelled
Of winter. looked Of winter. and sounded
OF winter. The eye saw for smooth
ashen asphalt. q sheet OF snow. already
marked OF wheels and feet. but giIstening and
nm Sulliad. for rertilinanr hrOWnStOne ayary-
where uninterrupted balustrades and posts
enthusiastically turreted.. The ear received In
the loud rumble and hum Of wheels hushed
footballs on padded ways. and tho sltgh hit crunch
Of snow crystals, together with an indesGriba,
that belongs TO the air over fields of snow.
The checks had n new baptism. not
G 81 sSa tr6 50S' t Rs' far ar R ReR!tt@ of OF air. D%uE TR5;
nostrils took in. not the ordinary urban warn
ing incense Of creoSote and escaped coal gas.
but whlrs Of true ozone, with its extra atom
OF oxygen; But when all the senses had had
their say there remained something yet unin-
terpreted. "A residue of i'm pressions addressed
to some yet unidentified sense. or as Walt
whitman spys OF sert9in aspects Of night
sions embodying the very essence OF tho snow
clad city.
ton to whoop and rouse the, echoes Of the reso-
nant air. for the magic Of the, morning Was
strong upon all but the du ilcst. Men walked as
dazzling In its splendor. uniformly brilliant and
shadowless beneath the low light strrphGgling
houses with their new white trimmings
seemed fresh from the hand Of some
mysterious mason, who had wrought while the
pened Without astonishing some that walked
In delighted amaze through the hushed city.
have vanished from familiar scenes. and what.
ever manifestation of arctic enchantment had
i hs fe if from rd thoss nsT-H 4trast R Moaid S 6a s.f been
OF a piece with the miracle wrought over night.