ese brave words, Parson Whitney bundled himself up
in his warmest garment and followed the deacon down stairs.

[Illustration: "_Tell the folks that you won't be back till night._"]

"Tell the folks that you won't be back till night," called the deacon
from the sleigh, "for this is New Year's and we're going to make a day
of it." And he laughed away as heartily as might be--so heartily,
indeed, that the parson joined in the laughter himself as he came
shuffling down the icy path toward him.

"Bless me, how much younger I feel already," said the good man, as he
stood up in the sleigh, and with a long, strong breath, breathed the
cool, pure air into his lungs. "Bless me, how much younger I feel
already," he repeated, as he settled down into the roomy seat of the old
sleigh. "Only sixteen to-day, eh, deacon," and he nudged him with his
elbow.

"That's all; that's all, parson," answered the deacon, gayly, as he
nudged him vigorously back, "that's all we are, either of us," and,
laughing as merrily as boys, the two glided away in the sleigh.

[Illustration: "_It was found that the parson could steer a sled._"]

Well, perhaps they didn't have fun that day--those two old boys that had
started out with the feeling that they were "only sixteen," and bound to
make "a day of it." And they did make a day of it, in fact, and such a
day as neither had had for forty years. For, first, they went to
Bartlett's hill, where the boys and girls were coasting, and coasted
with them for a full hour; and then it was discovered by the younger
portion of his flock that the parson was not an old, stiff, solemn,
surly poke, as they had thought, but a pleasant, good-natured, kindly
soul, who could take and give a joke and steer a sled as well as the
smartest boy in the crowd; and when it came to snow-balling, he could
send a ball further than Bill Sykes himself, who could out-throw any boy
in town, and roll up a bigger block to the new snow fort they were
building than any three boys among them. And how the parson enjoyed
being a boy again! How exhilarating the slide down the steep hill; how
invigorating the pure, cool air; how pleasant the noise of the chatting
and joking going on around him; how bright and sweet the boys and girls
looked, with their rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes; how the old parson's
heart thrilled as they crowded around him when he would go, and urged
him to stay; and how little Alice Dorchester begged him, with her little