OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



of pleasure, such keen delight, such excitement, and 

 such danger? The first day that we had our new ice 

 boat, the air came in mild, irregular puffs, which made 

 it doubtful whether we could go out at all ; and when we 

 did venture in sheer inability to wait longer, a large 

 part of the going was furnished by the long legs of our 

 skipper! 



"Perhaps tomorrow," he encouraged us. And when 

 the wild geese passed in the early twilight, chattering 

 with the same effect as an afternoon tea, our one thought 

 was the country saying, "That means a storm." 



Sure enough, before the dawn came, not a rain storm, 

 nor a snowstorm, but a windstorm of terrific violence. 

 The wind was not cold, as it came from the south; the 

 trees oozed moisture, the eaves dripped, and the surface 

 of the lake shone as if with water. The skaters re- 

 joiced in this change, for it meant a smooth glare when 

 the frost came ; and the hockey-players shook their sticks 

 gleefully, and the ice-boat enthusiast felt herself aquiver 

 with the coming sport. 



Clothing for ice-boating resembles an aeroplane cos- 



258 



