room to lay the cloth for dinner she found twelve large baskets full of the most splendid and delicious raspberries that could be found in the wood. Nobody could tell how they had come there, but everybody made a pretty sure guess.

And now commenced such a boiling and sugaring down for preserving, that you never saw the like, and if you choose we will go there to help them, and we shall then get our share of the treat, for I verily believe they are preserving raspberries to this day!

remain there, you chilly numbskull, afraid to stir out into the world, and you are welcome too, to laugh at the other lads who are fools enough to run about and play, hardening themselves in the

pure, cold, frosty winter's day. I will tell you something which, maybe, you are not aware of: no effeminate lad will ever turn out to be a There is something worse than that of being in life a chicken

proper man. chilled hands

hearted ninny.

Such a youngster had better be

kept under a glass shade, or be put to bed for

the rest of his life.

to battle with life.

brought up afraid

Believe me, it takes a man

It won't do for a boy to be

of a breath of invigorating

winter, like a delicate flower. If so, it will be all the worse for him in after-life.

It is glorious to live when the sun shines on

the sparkling fields of snow! How the boys" little hand-sledges glide down the frozen hill, and how merrily the bells tinkle as swiftly they fly past, far out on the ice of the lake below! If you feel cold, starveling, well, stay at home, the best place for such as you; or stand aside and look on. The little sledges have nimble runners, and require neither horses nor whip.

Walter was one of those hardy little fellows who never seem to feel cold at all, even if he had forgotten his mittens. If the tip of his merry little nose was a bit frozen, well-then he

If his fingers

blew it and was as jolly as ever. ached with cold, he rubbed them with snow against each other, and beat his arms across his chest. Afraid he never was-not he, unless he had done something wrong, and then he felt ashamed to look anybody in the face. God brands every evil-doer with disgrace, so that everybody can read it in their faces. He did so with Cain, and he does so still; they all carry it in their eyes.

On the steep mountain slope near the lake wound a path which was called the "Road to the Clouds," because, looking up from below, it seemed to lead straight to the sky. No horse could ascend this high hill, but all the boys in the neighbourhood did with their tiny sledges, and a fine sight it was. "The Road to the Clouds" was divided half-way up by a piece of level ground, so that those who did not venture to start down from the summit, could content themselves with a run half-way down, when the speed would not be quite so terrific.

It was a fine winter's day, and the boys were thoroughly enjoying the fun of flying down the hill on their tiny tinkling sledges. Some of

them had little girls sitting in front, and then it required all their skill and nerve to steer the fleet conveyance properly through the twistings and turnings, when sometimes it happened the young lasses would scream with fright. "Don't be afraid; it is all right!" the boys would shout in return. And really it went off splendidly; rapidly they sped far out on the ice. To be sure, now and then a sledge would tumble over with its merry occupants, and then some lost their caps, or got a scratch on the nose; but they did not mind that a bit, and they would soon resume their sport, merrier than ever.

Father Christmas had brought Walter a small sledge, which was quite peerless in its way. It was shod with iron, which soon became polished by the friction. It could be steered by reins, as if drawn by an imaginary horse, if its master did not care to direct its course with his heels when he sat astride. It was christened "PikkuBuck" because it overtook all other sledges going down hill, and then would give them a punch in the back. "Pikku-Buck" and Walter were great chums. I wish you could have seen them darting down the glassy road. They came