Winter Landscape with Iceskaters, by Hendrick Avercamp (c. 1608)
William Howitt (1792-1879) was a prolific writer, principally of non-fiction, who wrote on a variety of topics over the course of his life: religion, literature, spiritualism, travel, history. He was perhaps best known for his books on rural life. One of the most charming is A Country Book: for the field, the forest, and the fireside, published in 1859. It contains one chapter per month, each focussing on country life at the relevant time of the year. Sometimes November can seem like a melancholy time of year, with the long winter stretching ahead, but here is what Howitt had to say on the subject:
In Nature there is nothing melancholy.
In nature there is no season which has not its charms. To healthy frames and minds at ease, there will never cease to be inspiring music in the wild winds…
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