It tried to escape through doorways, when it sank slowly into the floors.

Gentle breezes created a ripple on its surface, and strong winds lifted it into the air and flung it against the houses.

It undermined the heaps of clotted snow till they tottered like icebergs and fell to pieces.

Men made their way through it on stilts.

Had a frost followed, the result would have been appalling; but there was no more frost that winter.