But when the
hoar frosts appeared, when the clouds gathered, when the winds
began to wail, and the snows to fall, then his spirits rose to meet
the invading death. The old castle grew grayer and grayer outside,
but ruddier and merrier within. Oh, that awful gray and white
Scottish winter--dear to my heart as I sit and write with window
wide open to the blue skies of Italy's December!
Cosmo kept up his morning bath in "the pot" as long as he could,
but when sleet and rain came, and he could no longer dry himself by
running about, he did not care for it longer, but waited for the
snow to come in plenty, which was a sure thing, for then he had a
substitute. It came of the ambition of hardy endurance, and will
scarcely seem credible to some of my readers. In the depth of the
winter, when the cold was at its strongest, provided only the snow
lay pretty deep, he would jump from his warm bed with the first
glimmer of the morning, and running out, in a light gray with the
grayness of what is frozen, to a hollow on the hillside a few yards
from the house, there pull off his night-garment, and roll in the
snow, kneading handfuls of it, and rubbing himself with it all
over. Thus he believed he strengthened himself to stand the cold of
the day; and happily he was strong enough to stand the
strengthening, and so increased his hardihood: what would have been
death to many was to him invigoration. He knew nothing of boxing,
or rowing, or billiards, but he could run and jump well, and ride
very fairly, and, above all, he could endure.
Pages:
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125