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Poverty - by James Platt

hollow of some old tree or old ruin. The Bible speaks of winter. Jacob complained of "being consumed by frost at night," and the Psalmist exclaims, "He giveth snow like wool," " He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes" " He casteth forth his ice like morsels," "Who can stand before His cold?" " He saith to the snow, Be thou upon the earth." We are told of a man killing a lion in the time of snow, and of "the snows of Lebanon," the melting of which cause the overflow of the river Jordan. The Rev. A. Hall told me he rode into Jerusalem in a blinding snow storm; and Peter coming to warm himself by the fire at night incidentally tells us of the cold in the hills of Judea; and when we think that Jesus spent whole nights on the mountain side,

"Cold mountains and the midnight air
Witnessed the fervour of His prayer,"

How wonderful are the effects of cold! When the thermometer falls below thirty-two the liquid water becomes congealed, like glass - it is frozen; and if there is any moisture in the air, the cold freezes it, and it becomes snow formed into flakes.

Some Frenchmen were wintering at Tornau in and, and when the door of their hut was opened, moisture of their breath formed instantly into flakes of snow.

How wonderful are flakes of snow, how beautiful their forms! Scoresby, Glaisher, and others observed nearly a thousand different shapes, mostly six-pointed stars. And a large flake is sometimes or mostly formed of several smaller ones clining to each other, and all of different shapes.

And how white! How is this? It is the result of the combination of the different prismatic rays issuing from these minute snow crystals. We see the same on the white foam of the sea on the top he waves.

The sea may look blue or green, but no sooner is it agitated by the wind than waves are formed, and small spray or foam is broken into such small titles, that the light is reflected by them ; and in, break a black glass bottle, grind it to powder, it becomes white, the minute particles reflect-the light. The purest white we can make, how pure compared to snow! How dirty the whitest as when the house tops are covered with snow!

You may ask, "What is the use of snow ?" Falling immense quantities, and thence, by its gradual melting, it steadily and quietly feeds the springs, and through them the streams and rivers, which a heavy fall of rain would convert into fearfully destructive torrents, sweeping over whole tracts of entry. In some countries the snow tempers the burning heats by cooling the breezes that come