296 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



a long band of frosted bridal cake. Past tbe extremities 

 of our piers the current kept its sweep, and block after 

 block, fragment after fragment, went drifting swiftly by, 

 one just catching the other, as it came too near, what our 

 young school-boys call "a gentle kick." Sometimes, 

 when there was an obstacle and a stoppage lower down, 

 the bigger members of the shoal dipped under and threw 

 up in affrighted altitude some weaker neighbour right 

 on end, or crushed it within the boiling mass. Still 

 safely and surely they had been shunted off the pier 

 point, until all of a sudden I saw one big stone upon its 

 lower surface tremble. Then taking mean advantage of 

 its fright, under influence of which it had staggered too 

 near the swift outside stream, a young thickset ice-block, 

 about a yard across and a foot deep, hit it something 

 like a blow beneath the ear, which a second ice youngster 

 following up, knocked the stone right into the seething 

 abyss. This was not much after all, and so long as its 

 surviving brother pebbles kept a judicious down-charge, 

 as did the Duke's guards at Waterloo, there was no 

 fear of further damage. It was only when a fellow 

 funked and peeped to have a look that he received 

 the retributive blow. The greater masses went con- 

 temptuously by, as if in impotent anger, imtil all of 

 a sudden one monster, taking a dive and thereby 

 mounting upon its back another equally mighty, was 

 enabled maliciously to get a sweep of the shore above 

 the surface of the water, and came thump against our 

 projection, making the whole bank tremble : an alarming 

 effect which was immediately followed up by another 

 triangular block being similarly mounted and brought 

 point on against our precious handywork, this time 

 picking out a boulder which it all but dislodged. Then 



