Page:Winter - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/248

234 stood at 26° at $6 1⁄2$, if the thermometer had been long enough. At $11 1⁄2$, ours was —1°, at 4, +12°.

Jan. 25, 1857. Still another very cold morning. Smith's thermometer over ours, at —29°, [mercury ?] in bulb of ours. But about 7 ours was 18°, and Smith's at 24°. Ours, therefore, at first, about —23°.

Jan. 26, 1857. Another cold morning. None looked early, but about 8, it was —14°. Saw Boston Harbor frozen over, as it had been for sometime. It reminded me of, I think, Parry's Winter Harbor, with vessels frozen in. Saw thousands on the ice, a stream of men where they were cutting a channel toward the city. Ice said to reach fourteen miles. Snow untracked on many decks.

Ice did not finally go out till about February 15th.

Jan. 23, 1858. The wonderfully mild and pleasant weather continues. The ground has been bare since the 11th. This morning was colder than before. I have not been able to walk up the North Branch this winter, nor along the channel of the South Branch at any time.

To Saw Mill Brook. A fine afternoon. There has been but little use for gloves this winter, though I have been surveying a great deal for three months. The sun and cock-crowing, bare ground, etc., remind me of spring.