, and,
as a natural consequence, beautiful to look upon. And we will believe,
therefore, that their peculiar beauty depends upon their peculiar use."

SLIDING DOWN HILL.

Say what you will--talk about cold hands, feet, and noses, as much as you
please--there are about as fine sports in winter as we get in the whole
year. There is something very exciting in snow. A snow storm acts like
electricity upon the spirits of the boys--and girls too, for that matter.
How busy we used to be, on Saturday afternoon, when there was no school, as
soon as the first flakes of snow had whitened the ground, making new sleds,
and mending up old ones.

Our southern readers know very little about these sports of winter. I have
a good mind to enlighten them a little. Imagine, my young friends--you who
live so near the tropics that snow and ice are objects of
curiosity--imagine, if you can, the earth covered to the depth of two feet
or more with snow. In some places, the drifts are as high as your head, and
higher too. When it first falls, the particles are loosely thrown together;
but a warm sun or a little shower of rain melts them down a little, and
then comes a night cold enough to freeze up your mouth, if you don't look
out, and the surface of the snow becomes hard and slippery. Then such a
time as the boys have sliding down hill--why, it is worth coming up as far
north as New York, and running the risk of having your fingers frozen a
little, to see them at it, and take a few trips down the hill.

[Illustration: SLIDING DOWN HILL.]

A sled constructed for this purpose is a very simple thing. I will sketch
one for you. Here it is, and a boy carrying it up the hill.

When the boy gets to the top of the hill, he sometimes lies and sometimes
sits up on his sled, and lets it go. It finds its way down, without any of
the boy's help, you may depend upon it. He has to guide it a little with
his feet, though. If he did not, he might come in contact with another
boy's sled, or a rock, perhaps; and that would be rather a serious joke,
when the sled was going like the cars on a railroad.

Sometimes there are a dozen boys, all or nearly all with a sled of their
own, sliding down the same hill at once. In fact, we used to have the whole
school at it, now and then, when I was a little boy. It was a merry time
then, you may be sure. Occasionally we would have a large sled, which it
took three or four boys to draw