HEALTHFUL LOCOMOTION. 73 



old sleighs ? Perhaps so, but very comforta- 

 ble boxes, high-backed, protecting the shoul- 

 ders and the neck, high sided, bottoms deeply 

 covered with straw ; they were sleighs we got 

 into, not upon ; there was abundance of room 

 for a companion, and when we were ensconced 

 in that box and so covered over with buffalo 

 skins that nobody could see exactly what we 

 were doing, and a merry song chimed in with 

 the music of those big bells, that was sleigh- 

 ridine — with warm hearts instead of cold backs 

 and freezing toes. 



There are two modes of healthful locomo- 

 tion left to us, pedestrianism and horseback 

 exercise. I make no account of the unnatural 

 bicycle, which doctors tell us is productive of 

 serious disorders when used to excess. Walk- 

 ing is a solitary entertainment. It has no vari- 

 ety in its measured step, although it is valu- 

 able for its economy when time is not consid- 

 ered. But there is the companionship of the 

 horse, and the change of gait bringing many 

 muscles into play, which give^a peculiar zest to 

 riding. In summer the rapid motion prevents 

 a concentration of the sun's rays, but it is in 

 winter that it starts the blood into circulation, 

 and if the nose becomes red, the cheeks are 



