noon
Mother said that the frost had not gone off the kitchen window nearest the stove in all the day , and that was a sign . The sleighs and sledges as they went by in the road creaked on the snow , so that we heard them through the double windows , and that was a sign ; while the teamsters swung their benumbed arms like the sails of a windmill to keep up the circulation , and the frozen vapor puffed out from the horses ' nostrils in a manner reminding one of the snorting coursers in sensational pictures . The schoolboys on their way from school did not stop to play , and that was a sign . No women had been seen on the street since noon . Young men , as they hurried past on the peculiar high-stepping trot of persons who have their hands over their ears , looked strangely antiquated with their mustaches and beards all grizzled with the frost . Toward dusk I took a short run to the post-office . I was well wrapped up , but that did not prevent me from having very singular sensations before I got home .