orious days which the poet Herrick calls
the "bridal of the earth and sky." From a heaven intensely blue, the
sun, without a cloud, "looked like a God" over his dominions. Some
rain had fallen in the night, and the weather suddenly clearing up
towards morning, had hardened the moisture into ice. Every bush, every
tree, the fences, were covered with a shining mail, from which
and from the crisped surface of the snow, the rays of the sun were
reflected, and filled the air with a sparkling light. Transmuted, as
by a magician's wand, the bare trees were no longer ordinary trees.
They were miracles of vegetable silver and crystal. Mingled among
them, the evergreens glittered like masses of emerald hung with
diamonds. Aladdin, in the enchanted cavern, saw not so brilliant a
spectacle.

The narrow road which led to the Falls descended a declivity, where it
left the main street until it came to within a few feet of the surface
of the river, then curving round the base of the hill, it skirted the
winding margin of the stream until it ascended another hill, on the
top of which, from a platform of level rock, one of the finest views
was commanded. The path was slippery with ice, and in descending the
declivity the arm of Bernard was necessary to support the uncertain
steps of his companion. It was with a sort of tremor he offered it, of
which Faith was all unconscious. She took it without hesitation, and
stepping cautiously over the glazed surface, and laughing at each
other's slips, the young couple pursued their walk. On their right was
a steep hill, rising in some places to a height of one hundred feet
above their heads, covered over, for a considerable distance along the
road, with the perennial beauty of the graceful hemlock and savin, now
resplendent in jewels; and on the left the Yaupaae, its frozen level
hid in snow, out of which the trees and shrubs on the little islands
raised their silver armor glittering in the sun. In the distance,
and visible from the greater part of the road, the river, in a narrow
chasm, dashed down the rocks. An unusual quantity of snow had lately
fallen, which, having been succeeded by heavy rains, had swollen the
stream to more than double its ordinary size. It was evident
that, what in the language of the country is called a freshet was
commencing. Such is the name given to those swellings of the water,
the most formidable of which commonly occur in the month of February,
or early in the Sprin