Jonas on a Farm in Winter

ing in a very warm and pleasant manner, and the snow was every where softening i

the road, and forming a long pool at the bottom. Jonas turned his horse

aid he,-"tired of

on the whole, I'd rather go with you. I didn't

two miles,"

you going?"

ught you heard your father tell m

the logs?"

the boards of,

liver, "I didn

who owns some pine timber in the woods, and get him to cut down some of

ll?" sai

ng-mill. The mill down in the vi

sently, they came to a place where Jonas was going to turn off, into a sort of by-road which led away in

that we are going

"but it does not lo

on it pretty well; but the warm sun had softened the snow so much, that the horses' feet s

and walk, Jona

it is the weight of the horse himself, that makes h

where, the ground being sheltered by the trees above, the snow lay more evenly up

ng under a high bank, with a deep brook on the other side. The wind, during the s

, "I am afraid we

ver; "is that a

, "it looks like

oad, and that it sloped away in such a manner that it would be ve

is hard,"

bank slopes to the south, and the sun has been

this place, for he knew by instinct that it

a moment, Oliver; perhaps we had better g

gh, so as to hold it in case it should tip down too far. They went on thus for some distance tolerably well. The horse sometimes got in pretty

s under, in the snow. The more he struggled to get free, the deeper he got in.

t us stop; I don't believ

st I don't think we can get

either," said Ol

g upon the horse a moment, u

ing to stay here and take care of the hor

id Oliver. "I'm afraid

irst," said Jonas, "and take him to so

get him out?"

st," said Jonas, "and then draw

he could not do much, the horse was so deep in the snow. And, besides, he was standing, or rather lying, in such a

the way. He trampled the snow down around the horse, as much as he could, and then the hor

where shall we put h

blown off during the storms; and then the sun, which had been shining for some days so pleasantly, had melted away what there had been left; and now the ground wa

Oliver. "I think you had better go home

said

id wrong to give it up, when we g

ld; but I'd rather carry hi

go with you,"

no work so hard as travelling in soft snow, without snow-shoes

ee any snow-sho

d flat, and your foot stands in the middle of them, and so presses them

f the brook, with a pole in his hands, with which he was going

ottom of the brook; "yes, it isn't deep. The ol

ter. However, he soon went in, and walked over, and Oliver fastened him to a tree, so that he could stand upon the bare piece of ground. Jonas then pulled the

en he would sink down again for several successive steps. After a short distance, he got out of the deep drift, which had prevented the horse from going on, and then h

er left to drag along in the snow; and this was what made the smooth groove, which Jonas observed. He did not see it before, because the man who

ch the log had made was hard and smooth. He concluded that it must have been made by such a log, and, of

farm-house, in the woods. There were a great many large logs, l

ad behind an enormous pile of wood. He went around it, and found that the boy was about as big as Jonas him

dman live her

e boy; "but he

s he?" s

lot, falling tre

t from here?"

a good h

ay?" sai

back of the house, where a rough sled-road

the woods behind; presently it ceased. Immediately after, the

a tree," s

new that the farmer was very desirous of having the business done that day. So he told the boy that he believed h

ad been kept open by the teams, which had been employed in hauling out pine logs. When Jonas go

about two feet from the top of the snow. He saw that it was nearly off, and so he thought he would wait a moment, where he was, and see it fall. He

perceived that it was moving. It was bending over very slowly indeed. It moved, however, faster and faster, and presently began to come tearing down between the branches of the

successfully, according to the farmer's directions. Then he

elf, "that Oliver is almost ou