Character-building

Photo by Eugene Crist

“There has been more talk about the weather around here this year than common, but there has been more weather to talk about. For about a month now we have had solid cold—firm, business-like cold that stalked in and took charge of the countryside as a brisk housewife might take charge of someone else’s kitchen in an emergency. Clean, hard, purposeful cold, unyielding and unremitting. Some days have been clear and cold, others have been stormy and cold. We have had cold with snow and cold without snow, windy cold and quiet cold, rough cold and indulgent peace-loving cold. But always cold.’’

From “Cold Weather,” by E.B. White (1899-1985), of Brooklin, Maine, from his series “One Man’s Meat,’’ in Harper’s Magazine in 1944.