STUDY 20

OLD WINTER

Old Winter sad, in snowy clad,

Is making a doleful din;

But let him howl till he crack his jowl,

We will not let him in.

Ay, let him lift from the billowy drift

His hoary, haggard form,

And scowling stand, with his wrinkled hand
Outstretching to the storm.

And let his weird and sleety beard

Stream loose upon the blast,

And, rustling, chime to the tinkling rime

From his bald head falling fast.

Let his baleful breath shed blight and death
On herb and flower and tree;

And brooks and ponds in crystal bonds

Bind fast, but what care we?

Let him push at the door,-in the chimney roar,

And rattle the window pane;

Let him in at us spy with his icicle eye,

But he shall not entrance gain.

Let him gnaw, for sooth, with his greezing tooth,

On our roof-tiles till he tire;

But we care not a whit, as we jovial sit

Before our blazing fire.

Come, lads, let's sing, till the rafters ring;
Come, push the can about;

From our snug fire-side this Christmas-tide
We'll keep old Winter out.-Thomas Nocl.

Exercises

1. This poem describes winter as a person. If you were to draw a portrait of winter as here described what are the striking features you would put into it as suggested by the poem?

What are the things that winter does?

2. Study the rhyming words, how they are arranged, and how well the rhymes fit.

Turn to the dictionary for the meaning of doleful, jowl, hoary, haggard, chime, rime, baleful, crystal, greezing (probably from grise meaning horrible), jovial, weird.

3. Study these homonyms: rime-rhyme; eye—aye; bald-bawled; pane-pain; our-hour; ring-wring; tide--tied.

4. Tell where in this poem the use of the comma and semicolon, question mark, and contractions are used.

Observe the use of shall and will; also the frequency of the imperative sentence.

5. Describe some of our winter sports, as :

a. Coasting in winter.

b. Snowballing, snow forts, etc.

c. Skating.

6. Collect pictures to illustrate winter sports.

STUDY 21

A WINTER TRIP IN NORTH SWEDEN

There was so much snow over the land that I thought I had come to "Snow Land." It was over twelve feet in depth; it had been snowing for six days and nights, and it was still snowing. I was now between the sixty-third and sixty-fourth degrees of north latitude, and I had to travel on the road nearly two hundred miles more before I came to the southern part of "The Land of the Long Night." I said to myself, "I have to cross this 'Snow Land' before I reach 'The Land of the Long Night.'" A little farther on we came to the post station-and how glad I was to spend the night there to get into a feather bed. The following day the snow-ploughs and rollers

were busy, and the centre of the highway was made passable for some miles farther north. So bidding goodby to the station-master and to my driver of the day before, I started with a fine young horse and a strong young fellow for a driver.

As I looked around, I could see snow, deep snow ev

erywhere. The fences, the stone walls of the scattered farms, and the huge boulders with which that part of the country is covered were buried out of sight. Only the tops of the birches and of the fir and pine trees could be

seen. I had never met such snow before! I had never encountered such a continuous snow storm! "Surely," I said to myself again, "this is 'Snow Land.'" I wondered how long it would take to cross it. The snow was nearly fourteen feet deep on a level.

Two hours afterward I saw in the distance a little hamlet, or a number of farms close together. What a sight! Many of the small houses were buried in the snow, and only their roofs or chimneys could be seen. From some of the chimneys smoke was curling upward. I was delighted. Every one was busy digging and making trenches, so that the light and air might reach the windows, or that communication could be had between the buildings, especially those where the animals were housed. In some cases the exit had first to be made through the chimney. It was a strange sight indeed! and I said to myself, "Surely I am in 'Snow Land.'"

Soon after we stopped at one of these farms. A trench about fifteen feet deep had been made, leading to the door of the dwelling-house. Here lived friends of my driver. I alighted and walked through the narrow trench and opened the door. In the little hall hung long coats lined with woolly sheep-skin; on the floor were wooden shoes, shovels, axes, etc. A ladder stood upright against