a
shovel, he began to clear away the snow from before them. The sky in the
east was by this time beginning to be quite bright; and a considerable
degree of light from the sky, and from the new-fallen snow, came into
the barn. Josey got a shovel, and went out to help Oliver. After they
had shoveled away the snow from the great barn doors, they went to the
house, and began to clear the steps before the doors, and to make paths
in the yards. They worked in this way for half an hour, and then, just
as the sun began first to show its bright, glittering rays above the
horizon, they went into the house. They found that the great fire which
Jonas had built, was burnt half down; the breakfast-table was set, and
the breakfast itself was nearly ready.

The boys came to the fireplace, to see what they were going to have for
breakfast.

"Boys," said the farmer's wife, while she was turning her cakes, "go and
call Amos in to family prayers,--and Jonas."

"You go, Oliver," said Josey.

Oliver said nothing, but obeyed his mother's direction. He went into the
barn-yard, and he found Amos and Jonas at work in a shed beyond, getting
down a sled which had been stowed away there during the summer. It was a
large and heavy sled, and had a tongue extending forward to draw it by.

"What are you getting out that sled for?" said Oliver.

"To haul wood on," said Jonas. "We're going to haul wood after
breakfast, and I want to get all ready."

There was another smaller and lighter sled, which had been upon the top
of the heavy one, before Amos and Jonas had taken it off. This smaller
sled had two shafts to draw it by, instead of a tongue. Jonas knew by
this, that it was intended to be drawn by a horse, while the one with a
tongue was meant for oxen.

"Oliver," said Jonas, "I think it would be a good plan for you and Josey
to take this sled and the old General, and go with me to haul wood."

"Well," said Oliver, "I should like it very much."

"We can all go up together. You and Josey can be loading the horse-sled,
while I load the ox-sled, and then we can drive them down, and so get
two loads down, instead of one."

"Well," said Oliver, "I mean to ask my father."

"Or perhaps," continued Jonas, "you can be teamster for the oxen, and
Josey can drive the horse, and so I remain up in the woods, cutting and
splitting."

"No," said Oliver, "because we can't unload alone."

"No," said Jonas; "I had forgotten that."

"But I mean to ask