est I had
ever felt; but 1840 would have won the prize if left to his Majesty of
Russia to decide the question. In addition to a black frost, there came
with it a biting, piercing, easterly wind, which seemed to freeze and
wither every thing it came upon. Pending this infliction (for I confess
I suffered under sciatica as well as the easterly wind), I left home
rather early one morning, muffled in two coats, a cloak, muffler, "bosom
friend," worsted wrists, and woolsey gloves; and yet as I closed the
door, I half repented that I had faced the blast.

Not twenty yards from my dwelling, I overtook a little creature, a boy
of about eight or nine years old, dressed in--of all the cold things in
the world--a _hard_ corduroy habiliment, intended to have fitted closely
to him; but his wretched, frozen-up form, seemed to have retreated from
the dress, and sunk within itself. I believe he had not another stitch
upon him. His little hands were buried into his pockets, almost up to
the elbows, seeking some warmth from his body; and he crept on before
me, one of the most miserable pictures of wretchedness my eye ever
rested on.

As I contemplated him, I could not but contrast my own blessings with
his misery. I had doubted whether I should leave the comforts of my
home, although invigorated by wholesome, perhaps luxurious food, and I
was clothed to _excess_; while the being before me, likely had not
tasted food that day, and was _barely covered_. Such were my thoughts;
and I had just said to myself, we know not, or at least, appreciate not,
a tithe of the blessings we possess, when that little creature read me a
lesson I shall recollect for my life. He shewed me that _he_ could bear
up against his ills, and make light of them too.

At the moment I speak of, I saw one hand slowly drawn from his pocket,
and in effort to relieve it from its torpor, he twisted and turned it
until it seemed to have life again. Next came forth the other hand, and
it underwent the same operation, until both appeared to possess some
power. Then he shrugged up one shoulder and the other, seeking to bring
life there also; and at length flinging his arms two or three times
round, he gave a jump off the ground, and exclaimed in an accent half
pain, half joy, "_Hurrah! for the could mornins!_"--and away he went
scampering up the street before me, keeping up the life within him by
that innate natural power of endurance I have described, evidently with
a deter