190 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



to the highway. With the icy track at its 

 smoothest, we went the longer half of a mile, 

 and had a mile and a half to walk back, the 

 "going" being slippery enough to double 

 the return distance. 



At this time it was that there came a pass- 

 ing rage (such as communities are suddenly 

 taken with, now and then, for a certain 

 amusement golf, croquet, or what not) 

 for coasting in a huge pung. Grown people, 

 men and women, filled it, while one man 

 sat on a hand-sled between the thills and 

 guided its course. Near the foot of the hill 

 the road took a pretty sharp turn, with a 

 stone wall on the awkward side of the way ; 

 but the excitement more than paid for the 

 risk, and by sheer good luck a thaw inter- 

 vened before anybody was killed. 



There was quiet amusement in the neigh- 

 borhood, I remember, because Mrs. C., who 

 was distressingly timid about riding behind 

 a horse (she could never be induced to get 

 into a carriage unless the animal were " old 

 as Time and slow as cold molasses "), saw 

 no danger in this automobile on runners, 

 which traveled at the rate of a mile a min- 



