OUR LIFE ON BOARD. 83 



thing for young people like ourselves. So, to the entrancing 

 melodies of a musical-box, the otherwise so serious ' Fram ' folk 

 danced with vigour, while the steward from the sofa made an 

 eloquent speech on his favourite topics, love and food, which 

 nobody had time to listen to. 



We kept Christmas until January 3, when we settled down 

 again to our work in the two cabins and the 'tween decks, where 

 the thermometer was sometimes at zero (the last winter it read as 

 low as 16'6 Fahr., or 27 Cent.). To stand and work with bare 

 hands in such a temperature is anything but agreeable, but, like 

 everything else, one grows used to it in time. 



