y all winter and kept no horses. Aunt Polly had horses and
for all the children knew she might have a sleigh, though they had
never seen one in the barn; but when they visited Aunt Polly at
Brookside Farm, it was summer and snow was the one thing furthest from
their thoughts.

"Meg," said Sam soberly as they left Oak Hill and turned into a country
road, "this kind of a horse is called a calico horse. I thought you'd
like to know."

"Well, foulard is something like calico--I mean the pattern is," Meg
replied. "I like calico horses."

"I wish I'd brought the sled," said Bobby. "We could tie on behind and
ride on it."

"It's more fun this way," Meg insisted, being a little girl who didn't
always want something she didn't have. "Do you like to drive a sleigh,
Sam?"

"Sure," said Sam over his shoulder. "Always did. When I was a boy and
lived in the country, we had a real old-fashioned sleigh, with red
cushions in it and everything. We used to drive down the river on the
ice then--that was sport, let me tell you."

"Let us drive on the river," said the four little Blossoms with one
voice.

"That's nothing but a creek, where you go to skate," Sam answered a
little scornfully. "This river I'm talking about was a real
river--wide and deep; boats came up it in summer time. We lived two or
three hundred miles north of here and it was three times as cold."

"Well, it's cold enough now," said Dot wisely. "Isn't it, Meg?"

"Yes," Meg agreed absently, "but look how pretty it is--I think snow is
lovely. And the bells sound so pretty, too. Here comes another
sleigh."

The children stood up to look, holding on to the back of the seat, to
steady themselves. Coming toward them were two horses, harnessed to a
sleigh much like the one Sam was driving--a light box set on two sets
of runners.

"From the creamery," said Sam, as his quick eyes saw the heavy milk
cans.

The man driving the sleigh called "Howdy!" and shook his whip at them
and Dot gasped and held on to Meg as Sam turned out for the other team.

The road was fairly well trampled in the center, but when it became
necessary for two vehicles to pass, they had to turn into the drifts.
The four little Blossoms felt their sleigh tilt alarmingly, but before
they had time to be frightened they were back on the level road again.

"Do--do sleighs ever tip over?" asked Dot anxiously.

"Oh, sometimes," Sam said cheerfully. "But if you are going to be
turned