This winter was remarkable for the long continuance of severe cold weather after it had once set in. Latterly, i.e. within a week, we have had crusted snow made by thaw and rain. Now we have the swollen river, and yellow water over the meadow ice.
The slight snow of last night, lodging on the limbs of the oaks, has given them the wintry and cobwebbed appearance that distinguishes them so plainly from the pines.
The seeds or seed-vessels of wintergreen are conspicuous above the snow.
At the Cliffs, the rocks are in some places covered with ice; icicles at once hang perpendicularly, like organ pipes, in front of the rock. The melting ice and snow now drips from their points with a slight clinking and lapsing sound. Where the icicles have reached the ground they are like thick pillars or the legs of tables and bed-posts. The shadow of the water flowing and pulsating behind this transparent icy crust or these stalactites in the sun imparts a semblance of life to the whole.H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 14, 1852
icicles . . .hang perpendicularly, like organ pipes . . . See January 11, 1854 ("Now is the time to go out and see the ice organ-pipes . . .”)
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