When the goldenrod flings
its velvet cushions along the edge of the copses, or when
the dandelion spangles the meadows, they are things of
beauty as well as any tulip or tiger-lily. But when they
or their rivals, silverweed, burdock, false ragweed,
thistles, gumweed, and others usurp the landscape and
seem to choke up the very earth and the very air with
ceaseless monotony and repetition, then they become an
offence to the eye and a reproach to those who tolerate
them. To-day, however, they all lent their stalks to
support the hoarfrost, to double and quadruple its total
mass. They were powdered over with countless diamonds.
It was here that I met with the flocks of snowflakes;
and if my joyous mood had admitted of any enhancement,
they would have given it.
And never before had I seen the school and the cottage
from quite so far! The haze was still there, but somehow
it seemed to be further overhead now, with a stratum of
winterclear air underneath. Once before, when driving
along the first east-west grade, where I discovered the
vista, I had wondered at the distance to which the eye
could pierce.
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