OF THE JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUEB. 



IWW^i 





' ^, Kasteh Sunday 

 \1 Sun rises :.h. SGlll. 

 li 'Sun sets Oil. 34m. 

 \V Oliver (.Joklsmitlul. 1774 

 lii Drlt. Uliisnim iiistit. 17f>.1 

 I' ; Storming "f IJiutajoz, IHl'i 

 S I rriiico Leopold born, 1833 



?' 1st SrNDAY AFT. EaHTHB 



Ml [Moon'8 last qimrtcr 



'Ilj! Battle of Toulouse. 1814 



Pfiico of Utrecht, 1713 

 Australian gold disc. 1S51 

 Sir G. C. Lewis d. 18G3 

 Ab. Lincoln assass. IHGH 

 2nd Sdndat aft. Easteb 

 [New moon 



Battle of Cullodtll, 1740 

 Sun rises 5h. 2ni. 

 Nupoleou 1. Emper. 18U1 

 Peace w. Russia pro. 185i; 

 Louis Napoleon born 180m 

 Mcon's first quarter 

 Skd Sunday aft. Kasteh 

 St. George's Day 

 Kdiuburgli Un.cliartd.l5»2 

 Princess Alice horn, J843 

 Giov. Lani extcuted, 185o 

 Sir Wm. Peel died, 1868 

 Sun sots 71i. 15m. 

 4th Sunday aft. Easter 

 [Full moon 



which attract tlie sun, and make a house most hot when we 

 want it most cool. One fault it had ; in case of lire it was 

 food, ready and prepared for the devourer. But in those 

 days we slept secure ; as were our neighbours, so were we, — 

 equally exposed, but equally careless of -what might happen. 



The skaters at length pass the reed-belt and reach the 

 open frozen mere, and no coutemptible size was it, — I suppose 

 nearly three miles by two, and with its dee]) friuge of reeds 

 it co-i'ered a very large space. The crowd Harry saw were 

 gathering to a centre, where tents and flags bespoke some 

 business to be going on. Hundreds of people were already 

 on the mere, and hundreds more were issuing from the dif- 

 ferent inlets. The frost had beeu continuously severe, so 

 there was no danger. Sixteen runners had offered themselves, 

 and they are to run in pairs. The long course is cleared, 

 and the first pair start, each man cheered by his friends. 

 Tlic runners wore gay silk handkerchiefs on their heads, and 

 stripjicd to their shu't sleeves ; some of them wore a tight- 

 fitting flannel dress. As to the first two, one was manifestly 

 superior, so the interest speedily flagged. The eight races 

 are over, the winner of each is to receive a share of the prize. 

 Then came the four, then the two, and then at length the 

 great race between the two best men. Here is our friend 

 Bellmorc, the other the noted Cowbit nmner. Each man is 

 determined to do his very best. Bellmorc smiles and looks 

 confident with his good-humoured face and meriy hazel eye. 

 'Tis said he has been training hard, and living high : nothing 

 less, they whisper, than slightly-cooked beef-steaks and other 

 good things. The Cowbit man is of altogether a different 

 build — a tall, sallow, dark-haired man, long in leg, neck, and 

 nose— a very wiry fellow, with such a long stride, though 

 critics notice he has not the leg and loin of his antagonist. 



Off they start, amid a dead silence of attention. Tlie 

 Cowbit man shoots ahead, and soon is far ahead; he surely 

 flies on skates. Bellmore goes at a terrible pace, as those 

 find who try to keep up with him, but the pace is altogether 

 inferior to that of his opponent. Bellmore hud an odd fancy 

 to have his skates tied with stout tar string instead of straps, 

 — he said they stuck closer together ; and he was no dandy, Ijut 

 a plain labourer, or rather miller's man, and what sacks of com 

 and beans he could carry ! The Cowbit man has turned the 

 corner, but surely they are not quite so far apart now. Bell- 

 more is round too, and both meeting a strong wind. The 

 smaller man bends low ; his stature is in his favour now, and 

 so is his terrible lasting strength. Surely he is gaining : the 

 Cowbit man's pace is not what it was, and the wind mauls 

 him terribly. Han'y is awfully excited, stretching his little 

 neck to see the race, while the shouting is fierce and loud. 



What ! the men are nearly abreast. The Cowbit man is 

 cheered vociferously by his friends — fierce, determined shouts; 

 while Bellmore's are afraid almost to cheer, lest a breath 

 should hinder him or take off his attention. They are now 

 neck and neck, side by side, stroke with stroke, but 'tis the 

 Cowbit man's last effort, he is done up ; he has not the 

 stamina of the short Saxon, who glides on smiling now with 

 all confidence, but at so rapid a rate tliat he is caught in the 

 arms of his friends nuiny yards Ijeyond the winning-post. 

 As to the Cowbit man, blood is seen trickling fr<jm his ears 

 and nose. He is terribly exhausted ; it is doubtful if he will ever 

 race again. Han-y is highly delighted, for does he not know 

 the liero of the day ; had not Bellmore nodded to him that very 

 moruing. He is charmed, too, with the sledges, and one or two 

 ladies who skate — now-a-days, happily, there would be more. 

 But the brief bright winter day begins to decline, and 

 friends had in the crowd got separated. Harry had lost his 

 party, and .as the multitude is thinning, he bends his way, as 

 he thinks, to the part of the mere at which he entered. But, 

 ]>oor boy, he is wrong ; he has not noticed, boy-like, tlie one 

 guide to positions on the mere, viz., Y.axley Church, so he 

 comes out at quite a different place. He feels somewhat 

 alanncd ; but evening will soon be upon him, and what if he 

 did not get home that night ? Still, even in his alarm he 

 cannot but pause a moment or two and listen to the sound ; 

 lie turns and looks back upon the mere. It will be the last 

 time there will lie races there ; for that far-famed jiiece <jf 

 water, in which was lost the great hell on its way to Itamsey 

 Abbey, will be dr.ained next spring. The plans are all ready; 

 the engineer is quite confident that he can do away with the 

 last remnant of the fens, their last lake. " Hon-id man ! " eja- 

 culates Harry, " no more decoys, no more wild ducks in flocks, 

 no more reeds, no more great flights of starlings, almost 

 darkening the sky ; and worst of all, no more races on the ice." 

 HaiTy wishes that engineer — 



" A cravat with a drefflc ti^jlit twist in it." 

 He was a thoughtfiU boy, and he was tired, and the excite- 

 ment over ; both which things conduce to contemplation. So 

 he ])aused and listened to the sound of the hundreds of 

 skaters ; the rumble and roar as of a sea, but broken in upon 

 by the meiTy voices. Through the reeds and up a river, but 

 where is Harry ? Why, he has come out on the Farcett side 

 of the mere ; for him the wrong side. The boy is now tired, 

 and cold, and hungi-y, utterly done up, and hangs on the 

 coat-tails of a skater who pities his weary condition. But 

 soon he is too tired to get any further. So coming to a 

 farm-house, he takes oft' his skates, and as he gets near hears 

 from within many voices, which cheer our somewhat down- 



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