January: Effie Waller

“Beneath the leaden skies
Old Mother Earth now lies
Wrapped in a cloud of white;
Trees once clothed in hosts
Of leaves, now stand like ghosts:
Each one in snow bedight.

On the ice, smooth and glassy,
The merry lad and lassie
Are skating to and fro;
Or down the steep hillside
With sleds they gaily glide
Over the smooth white snow.

The little snow-birds brown—
Feathered warblers of renown—
So blithe and bright and gay;
Flit about merrily,
Twittering loud and cheerily
All the livelong day. ”