Page:Rural Hours.djvu/550

Rh harmless creature, though forbidding in its aspect. It feeds on the bark and leaves of the hemlock, ash, and bass wood. In our northern counties, they are still quite numerous. They leave their spines in the bodies of their enemies, but are easily killed by a blow on the nose. The Indians of many tribes seem to have had a great fancy for the porcupine quills, showing much ingenuity in using them for ornamental purposes.

Such, with the rabbit, and hare, and the squirrels, are the more important quadrupeds of this part of the country; all these were doubtless much more numerous in the time of the Red man than to-day, and probably many of the species will entirely disappear from our woods and hills, in the course of the next century. They have already become so rare in the cultivated parts of the country, that most people forget their existence, and are more familiar with the history of the half-fabulous Unicorn, than with that of the American panther or moose.

Wednesday, 14th.—Cold day. Quite a rosy flush on the lake, or rather on the ice and snow which cover it; there are at times singular effects of light and shade upon the lake at this season, when passing clouds throw a shadow upon it, and give to the broad white field very much the look of gray water.

It is St. Valentine's day, and valentines by the thousand are passing through the post-offices all over the country. Within the last few years, the number of these letters is said to have become really astonishing; we heard that 20,000 passed through the New York post-office last year, but one cannot vouch for the precise number. They are going out of favor now, however, having been much abused of late years.

The old Dutch colonists had a singular way of keeping this