A Winter Ride Amy Lowell
(In _The Little Book of Modern Verse_.)
The Ride Clinton Scollard
(In _Songs of Sunrise Lands_.)




CHRISTMAS IN THE WOODS

DALLAS LORE SHARP

(In _The Lay of the Land_)


On the night before this particular Christmas every creature of the
woods that could stir was up and stirring; for over the old snow was
falling swiftly, silently, a soft, fresh covering that might mean a
hungry Christmas unless the dinner were had before morning.

But when the morning dawned, a cheery Christmas sun broke across the
great gum swamp, lighting the snowy boles and soft-piled limbs of the
giant trees with indescribable glory, and pouring, a golden flood, into
the deep spongy bottoms below. It would be a perfect Christmas in the
woods, clear, mild, stirless, with silent footing for me, and everywhere
the telltale snow.

And everywhere the Christmas spirit, too. As I paused among the pointed
cedars of the pasture, looking down into the cripple at the head of the
swamp, a clear wild whistle rang in the thicket, followed by a flash