Life on a Wisconsin Farm 



music we never could hear. The long-legged 

 skaters, too, seemed wonderful fellows, shuffling 

 about on top of the water, with air-bubbles 

 like little bladders tangled under their hairy 

 feet; and we often wished that we also might 

 be shod in the same way to enable us to skate 

 on the lake in summer as well as in icy winter. 

 Not less wonderful were the boatmen, swim- 

 ming on their backs, pulling themselves along 

 with a pair of oar-like legs. 



Great was the delight of brothers David and 

 Daniel and myself when father gave us a few 

 pine boards for a boat, and it was a memorable 

 day when we got that boat built and launched 

 into the lake. Never shall I forget our first sail 

 over the gradually deepening water, the sun- 

 beams pouring through it revealing the strange 

 plants covering the bottom, and the fishes com- 

 ing about us, staring and wondering as if the 

 boat were a monstrous strange fish. 



The water was so clear that it was almost 

 invisible, and when we floated slowly out over 

 the plants and fishes, we seemed to be miracu- 

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