That barren field, brown and unattractive by daylight, how it glistens and scintillates as the moonlight floods it. All last summer’s withered seed pods and grasses; the fluffed-out goldenrod, and many others are rejuvenated and hung with sparkling, pendent ropes of jewels, all the creation and work of the Frost Spirit, who has simply paused to caress them with his icy breath, in passing, and lo, they are beautiful. Later, when the morning sun touches them, they all, like Cinderella, are shorn of their finery, and become as before, just mere commonplace, brown and withered seed pods again. But with infinite patience, as soon as it is twilight the following night, the Frost Spirit steals forth again and restores once more his magic, fantastic pictures by the rays of the wintry moonlight. [Illustration: 47. Sometimes Jack Frost sketches oak leaves] [Illustration: 48. Detail of frost crystals largely magnified] The heavy frosts are a recognised and most important factor in creating remarkable changes in rocky formations of the earth’s surface. Large masses of rock are constantly being split and reconstructed by its mighty blasting powers, and great sections of solid material are converted in the same manner into soil by the secret action of the frost, which works continually with the other elements of heat and water to effect these changes. These powerful agents working year after year cause vast and important changes to occur in the formation of mountains and valleys. So great is the power of frost, that it has frequently been utilised in blasting; when water being poured into the crevice of a great rock, and allowed to freeze, the rock was readily split, as desired. All vegetation succumbs readily to the withering blight of the frost with the exception of the evergreen varieties. The cause for this is, that the juices of plants naturally expand when touched by the frost, and at last burst, which destroys the vesicles or life of the plant, which soon blackens and dies. Of all the pranks in which Jack Frost indulges, his wholesale destruction of the beautiful flowers and plants is the greatest to be deplored. But with all the marvellous works of the mighty Frost Spirit, nothing is quite so fascinating and interesting as the curious phenomena or frost formations which he creates and deposits upon the window-panes in mid-winter. Jack Frost is a finished artist, I assure you, and his etchings are dainty and attractive beyond words. If you have entered an unlighted room, and seen the moonlight filtering palely through a frost-etched window; then you know its charm. How it glittered and sparkled, the delicate frostwork. You were attracted no doubt and marvelled at the dainty tracings, but few of us have really had an opportunity to study the detail of these frost designs minutely, or have considered that there were more than three or four designs at most. [Illustration: 49. Twigs and leaves]