The library in winter: how could they get through the dismal season without that library?(blatant berry)(Sarah Josepha Hale Award)

UP IN NEWPORT, NH, WHERE I GREW UP, THEY'RE hunkering down for winter. The maple leaves just gave their last blast of color and have fallen. The Massachusetts people and other tourists who brought new faces and money to town are gone. The landscape is taking on the shades of gray and white that will be its tone until spring. Some of the 5000 or so souls who live there look forward to winter. Most, especially the older ones, try to find ways to keep the cold, hard season at bay. They decorate for the holidays. They hold events, give awards, and have shows, concerts, and church suppers to entertain one another. They flood the town common for ice skating. Toward the end of the …