January Twelfth
A long period of cold freezes the marshes to the bottom, and compels the muskrats to seek the bushy banks, or to take shelter under the corn-shacks or hay-stacks in the fields. Poor things, they of all animals endure hardship; for one can often track them to where they have scratched away the snow while searching for grass-blades, roots, acorns or apples that have fallen and decayed.