168 FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



Hardly does the thermometer go down into the 

 twenties, and succeed in congealing the surface and 

 raising the expectations of the devotees of the &quot;ring 

 ing steel,&quot; ere the clouds cover the sky, snow-flakes 

 make their appearance, and settle down with some 

 inches of soft impassability, winding up, probably, 

 with a rain or &quot;freeze,&quot; that leaves the entire surface 

 of every pond an uninviting expanse of &quot; humps and 

 bumps,&quot; that bid defiance equally to high art and un 

 skilled blundering. The ice -shaving machines, the 

 snow-sweepers and the like, are confined to the met 

 ropolitan limits ; and, although there is plenty of ice 

 in the country, it is often hard to get at, even if there 

 is not an &quot; ice-man&quot; to carry it away for other uses 

 than skating. 



