OUR PLEASURES 69 



if you so much as touch a limb with the whip. 

 Look at the delicate tracery in the snow left by the 

 tiny wood-folk when getting their breakfast! Ah, 

 here is the pile of wood brush off the snow with 

 your thick woolen mittens ! There, we have it all 

 loaded but those two sticks look out now! for 

 there is a nest of wood-mice under them, and if 

 one runs up your leg under your trousers, won't 

 you run and scream and slap ! Looking back from 

 the standpoint of modern comforts and the milder 

 California climate, one is inclined to pity those 

 New York pioneers for the hardships which they 

 endured ; but the snowy winters had their compen- 

 sations when we battled with a full stomach and 

 warm clothing. 



On cold, still moonlight nights, when the crys- 

 talled ice covered everything, our sleds creaked as 

 they sped over the glistening surface down the hill 

 and far out on the ice-bound lake; and our skates 

 rang sharply on the newly-formed ice. When 

 nature was in her milder mood of summer, we 

 stripped to two garments and lolled in the shadow 

 of the huge sycamore tree which grew just at the 

 water's edge, beyond the shelter-house of our sail- 

 boat, The Oregon. There we would lie watching 

 the sails taut with the soft south wind, or flapping 



