72 WINTER SKETCHES. 



be better than anything else I may have to 

 say. Besides, I am making my point. In win- 

 ter it is better to travel by some other means 

 than the railway. Sleigh-riding comes next. 

 That is not immediately dangerous, although 

 severe colds, conducive to fatal results, may 

 be contracted. 1 will admit that there is a cer- 

 tain degree of pleasure in it. At least, it was 

 pleasurable in former days. One of its attrac- 

 tions for me has been lost since we hear no 

 more the merry jingling of those great round 

 bells that were banded over the horse's back. 

 It is not now the fashion to carry them, and if 

 anything supplies their place, it is a tinkling 

 plaything, heard by the foot passenger just as 

 he is about to be run over. 



There are still some of those old Dutch and 

 New England sleighs existing only as curios- 

 ities. They were made for comfort rather 

 than for speed. The fancy sleighs of to-day 

 have scarcely more back support than summer 

 trotting wagons. They are provocative of 

 rheumatism and kidney complaints. The seat 

 has hardly room for more than one person, 

 and if two occupy it, it is greatly to their dis- 

 comfort. This is not sleigh-riding as we used 

 to understand it. " Boxes " were they, those 



