title: Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems
author:  Mary Oliver 
description: <DIV>"What good company Mary Oliver is!" The Los Angeles Times<br><br>"A treat for those who know and like her poems and a good introduction for the general reader who has yet to discover her work." Pittsburg Post Gazette</div>
zlib_text: > THE MISTLETOE MISTAKE OF MISS GRAYSON
  
  > SCHOOL OF CHARM: CHRISTMAS NOVELLA
  
  > MAGGIE DALLEN
  
  > CONTENTS
  
  >  _Chapter 1_
  
  >  _Chapter 2_
  
  >  _Chapter 3_
  
  >  _Chapter 4_
  
  >  _Chapter 5_
  
  >  _Chapter 6_
  
  >  _Chapter 7_
  
  >  _Chapter 8_
  
  >  _About the Author_
  
  > > 1
  
  M iss Madeline Grayson ran her fingers over the letter on her lap, the
  crinkling of the paper the only other noise in this carriage aside from the
  clattering of hooves on the snow-covered dirt road.
  
  The silence was pleasant, she decided. Far better than having a companion. She
  looked out the small window beside her at the snowy landscape rather than the
  empty space around her, the dark clouds gathering ominously overhead. The
  atmosphere suited her mood.
  
  It was perfect wallowing weather.
  
  But self-pity was not a trait to be admired, she reminded herself. A great
  aunt she’d stayed with for a time had told her that. The same great aunt had
  also liked to say that she’d best mind her manners or she’d find herself on
  the shelf.
  