or, The Silver Skates 157

women with baskets upon their heads; and plump little
toddlers on skates, clutching at their mother’s gowns. Some

   
 

women carried their babies
upon their backs, firmly se-
cured with a bright shawl.
The effect was pretty and
graceful as they darted by,
or sailed slowly past, now
nodding to an acquaintance,

 

ON THE CANAL.

now chirruping, and throwing soft baby-talk, to the muffled
little ones they carried.

Boys and girls were chasing each other, and hiding behind
the one-horse sleds that, loaded high with peat or timber, pur-
sued their cautious way along the track marked out as “ safe.”
Beautiful, queenly women were there, enjoyment sparkling in
their quiet eyes. Sometimes a long file of young men, each
grasping the coat of the one before him, flew by with electric
speed; and sometimes the ice squeaked under the chair of