FUNERAL OF BARBER — DEATH OF BROWN. 169 
The little boj, whose family has but recently moved into the next 
house beyond us, has been -in, nearly frozen. He carries all the 
water the family use from our spring, making a distance of nearly 
half a mile. He is a slight little fellow, and only twelve years 
old. He has two pails, and dips the water with a half-pint cup. 
He sits a long time by the dining-room stove, and seems to suffer 
much from his frost-bitten fingers. There is to be a new-year’s 
party at the hotel, and the lovers of gayety will be there. 
Qtk. —- Who ever saw so clear a morning as this ? The smoke - 
from the Indian houses over in the Delaware Deserve, and five 
miles away, could be seen gracefully curling and rising above the 
trees, as plainly as that from the house nearest us. The smoke 
rising from so many dwellings, far and near, from the compact 
settlement of Lawrence, and the sun shining upon the snow, making 
it look like a broad mantle studded with glittering gems, formed 
a pleasing, novel sight, well worth a place in memory’s gallery. 
lO^A— What odd-looking sleighs our people ride in, and how 
they glide over the smooth, level way ! Yankee invention, so 
much despised, brings a mine of comfort to her frontier children. 
A sleigh is wanted; the enterprising youth goes into the woods, 
and cuts two poles long enough for runners and shafts. A little 
part between the shafts and runners, leaving each the required 
length, is shaved from the upper side, so that they will bend easily. 
A few little cross-pieces being put in, and two or three cross-boards 
on the runners, with a box for a seat, the vehicle is complete. 
This is the most simple contrivance of all. There is another vari¬ 
ety of wagon-body on runners, which has the advantage of greater 
safety over the other, with sufficient lightness. From the first we 
have learned of some laughable accidents. A day or two since, two 
young men were riding quite briskly along, when, coming to a 
drift, the horse stopped suddenly, and one of our friends, quicker 
than thought, found himself head foremost in a deep bank, little 
more than boots being visible. He was so completely pinioned by 
the depth of snow, and by the force with which he was sent from 
the slight vehicle, that it was only after extra help had arrived 
that he was extricated. He suffered no injury, and joined in the 
laugh of the bystanders. 
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