Birthday

A rain had fallen from some warmer region in the skies when the cold here below was intense to and extreme. Every drop was frozen wherever it fell in the trees, and clung to the limbs and sprigs as it it had been fastened by hooks of steel. The earth was never more universally covered with snow, and the rain had frozen upon a crust on the surface which shone with the brightness of burnished silver. The icicles on every sprig glowed in all the luster of diamonds. Every tree was a chandelier of cut glass. I have seen a queen of France with 18 millions of livres of diamonds upon her person and I declare that all the charms of her face and figure added to all the glitter of her jewels did not make an impression on me equal to that presented by every shrub. The whole world was glittering with precious stones.
- on an ice storm that resulted in the loss of his prized fruit trees,
John Adams
born October 30, 1735