ly prick your face like
needle-points, while the sky is blue and bright above you. There is a
decided difference between the first snow-falls and those of mid-winter;
the first are in large soft flakes, and seldom remain long without
thawing, but those that fall after the cold has regularly set in are
smaller, drier, and of the most beautiful forms, sometimes pointed like
a cluster of rays, or else feathered in the most exquisite manner.

I find my eyes much inconvenienced by the dazzling glitter of the snow
on bright sunny days, so as to render my sight extremely dull and
indistinct for hours after exposure to its power. I would strongly
advise any one coming out to this country to provide themselves with
blue or green glasses; and by no means to omit green crape or green
tissue veils. Poor Moses' gross of green spectacles would not have
proved so bad a spec. in Canada*.

[* Oculists condemn coloured spectacles, as injuring weak eyes by the
heat which they occasion. Coloured gauze or coloured shades are
preferable.--Ed.]

Some few nights ago as I was returning from visiting a sick friend, I
was delighted by the effect produced by the frost. The earth, the trees,
every stick, dried leaf, and stone in my path was glittering with mimic
diamonds, as if touched by some magical power; objects the most rude and
devoid of beauty had suddenly assumed a brilliancy that was dazzling
beyond the most vivid fancy to conceive; every frozen particle sent
forth rays of bright light. You might have imagined yourself in Sinbad's
valley of gems; nor was the temperature of the air at all unpleasantly
cold.

I have often felt the sensation of cold on a windy day in Britain far
more severe than I have done in Canada, when the mercury indicated a
much lower degree of temperature. There is almost a trance-like
stillness in the air during our frosty nights that lessens the
unpleasantness of the sensation.

There are certainly some days of intense cold during our winter, but
this low temperature seldom continues more than three days together. The
coldest part of the day is from an hour or two before sunrise to about
nine o'clock in the morning; by that time our blazing log-fires or metal
stoves have warmed the house, so that you really do not care for the
cold without. When out of doors you suffer less inconvenience than you
would imagine whilst you keep in motion, and are tolerably well clothed:
the ears and nose are the most exposed to i