Then turns and hastens on its way.
“But when a snowflake finds a tree
Good-day, it says, good-day to thee.
Thou art so bare and lonely, dear,
I’ll rest and find a playmate here.
“But when a snowflake brave and meek
Lights on a little maiden’s cheek,
It starts—how warm and mild the day,
’Tis summer; and it melts away.”
It is of course utterly impossible to bring before you in the photo-micrographs of the snow crystals all their many charms, their exquisite hues and rainbow shadings, as each crystal radiates with prismatic hues which are due greatly to air inclusions and resembles closely at times, clusters of magnificent jewels. We get this effect in mass, if we gaze forth upon a wide expanse of snow illuminated by pale moonlight, or flooded by strong sunshine. The scintillation is almost too dazzling at times for the eyes, and we are duly impressed by the magnitude of snow-crystal formation. Numberless they are, and like the sands of the seashore. We find that in making a collection of snow crystals by photo-micrograph, during a period covering twenty years of study, in which thirteen hundred perfect specimens were found, that the entire number discovered, when massed, would form only about one cubic inch of snow.