In the country, a good he-snowstorm makes a lovely design…
““In the country, a good he-snowstorm makes a lovely design for putting on a holiday greetings card. In the city it just makes an infernal mess for the street-cleaning department to wrestle with. … By midday of next day it would be licked to a custard— molten into puddles of foggy slush where cellar furnaces exhaled their hot breath up out of sidewalk gratings, roiled and fouled and crunched down beneath the heels and the tires of the town, flung up in crumply billows by the conscripted shovel crews, and under the park trees and on the park meadows would show a stark and grayish cast like the face of a grimy pauper whose corpse the undertaker scanted. And the longer it stayed there the sootier and the dirtier and the deader-looking it would get to be. You may worry the city with your winter weathers; you cannot keep her licked for any great length of time.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
A heavy snowstorm looks picturesque in rural areas but creates chaos for city services, turning streets into slush and grime that eventually melts away.
In simple terms: Snow looks pretty outside but causes city messes.
Key Takeaway
Accept that winter storms are temporary and plan for cleanup.
Themes
weather
urban life
nature vs civilization
maintenance
impermanence
Mood
reflective
pragmatic
Type
observational
descriptive
When to use this quote
- city street cleaning
- holiday card design
- urban planning
- public works
- community response
Key Concepts
urban planning
environmental impact
human labor
temporary beauty
Questions to Reflect On
- How can cities better prepare for sudden snowstorms?
- What aesthetic value does winter have despite its mess?
A Different Perspective
Snow eventually melts, so long‑term disruption is limited.