﻿WINTER. 



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breakfast. Then you may put on your warm cap and mittens, and 

 venture out to school. You will find the roads already broken, and 

 sleigh-bells sounding merrily in all directions. The snow screams 

 under your feet as you pass along, and very soon your breath will 

 begin to collect in white frost upon your tippet. By-and-bye, if you 

 live near a rail-road, you will see the morning train of cars approach- 

 ing, headed by an enormous snow-plough, and two or three engines, 

 puffing and blowing along, and leaving a long trail of white steam 

 behind. It is indeed a noble sight to see the train creeping like a 

 huge serpent among the hills, moving as if by magic, stopping here 

 and there to set down or take up the travellers. It is hard to realize, 

 at a thought, all the achievements wrought out by man with the sim- 

 ple though mighty power of boiling water ! But we shall yet see 

 greater things than these. 



It was one of my favorite amusements, when I was young, to fish 

 in the winter season, through the ice, and I was quite happy when 

 I had a fish-line in my hand, watching the approach of my victims. 

 My father had an old servant, who used generally to attend me on 

 these excursions, but I could never induce him to take the line in 

 his hands. He would always have an old crooked stick for a pole 

 to fish with. Sometimes he would attach lines to a number of these 

 poles, and stick them in the bank and let them take care of them- 



selves, only visiting them occasionally to renew the baits. He would 

 stand under the shelter of an old tree by the side of the pond, in a 



