“I see something that looks like a horse that hasn’t got any head, and some trees that haven’t got any branches, and a great many more mountains and rocks. I think they are pictures, but they look white, just like snow.”
“Well, Charles, the cold made those pictures. We call it frost on the windows, and it came last night while we were all asleep. It was very cold indeed last night, and a great many things froze very hard. Now hark, what do you hear?”
“Hark! I hear something that ticks just like a watch. What is it?”
“It is the cold frost which has frozen some water in the tumbler. Last night it was water, and I drank some of it. Now look here; it is ice, and it looks very beautiful. See all those little marks and spots. Those are little bubbles. Now it goes click, click, again. See how hard it is; I cannot break it with my finger.”
“Mother, will the frost stay all day on the windows, or go away when it is daylight?”
“Not when it is daylight, but when the room is warm. There is a good, bright fire in the grate, and it will make the room warm, and by and by the sun will rise out of doors and shine on the glass, and warm it, and the frost will melt. Then it will be water and run down in drops.”
“Well, I think it is very pretty frost, and I don’t think I could make such horses, and trees, and cows.”
SHOOTING A BEAR.
Once there was a foolish man, who was always afraid of bears. He was always afraid there were bears in the woods around him, and that they would come and eat him up.