244 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
—clearing away the snow of many a storm, if 
need be, and mining downward till they strike 
the ice. I look this morning from the window, 
and the pond is bare. Ina moment I happen 
to look again, and it is covered with a swarm of 
boys ; a great migrating flock has settled upon 
it, as if swooping down from parts unknown 
to scream and sport themselves here. The air 
is full of their voices; they have all tugged 
on their skates instantaneously, as it were by 
magic. Now they are in a confused cluster, 
now they sweep round and round in a circle, 
now it is broken into fragments and as quickly 
formed again ; games are improvised and aban- 
doned ; there seems to be no plan or leader, 
but all do as they please, and yet somehow 
.act in concert, and all chatter all the time. 
Now they have alighted, every one, upon the 
bank of snow that edges the pond, each scrap- 
ing a little hollow in which to perch. Now 
every perch is vacant again, for they are all in 
motion ; each moment increases the jangle of 
shrill voices, — since a boy’s outdoor whisper 
to his nearest crony is as if he was hailing a 
ship in the offing, —and what they are all say-. 
ing can no more be made out than if they were 
a flock of gulls or blackbirds. I look away 
from the window once more, and when I glance 
out again there is not a boy in sight. They 
