It gladdened him--a gladness with a sigh breathing through
it--to see the stream of ladies gliding along the slippery sidewalks
with their red cheeks set off by quilted hoods, boas and sable capes
like roses amidst a new kind of foliage. The sleigh bells jingled to
and fro continually, sometimes announcing the arrival of a sleigh from
Vermont laden with the frozen bodies of porkers or sheep, and perhaps
a deer or two; sometimes, of a regular marketman with chickens, geese
and turkeys, comprising the whole colony of a barn-yard; and
sometimes, of a farmer and his dame who had come to town partly for
the ride, partly to go a-shopping and partly for the sale of some eggs
and butter. This couple rode in an old-fashioned square sleigh which
had served them twenty winters and stood twenty summers in the sun
beside their door. Now a gentleman and lady skimmed the snow in an
elegant car shaped somewhat like a cockle-shell; now a stage-sleigh
with its cloth curtains thrust aside to admit the sun dashed rapidly
down the street, whirling in and out among the vehicles that
obstructed its passage; now came round a corner the similitude of
Noah's ark on runners, being an immense open sleigh with seats for
fifty people and drawn by a dozen horses. This spacious receptacle was
populous with merry maids and merry bachelors, merry girls and boys
and merry old folks, all alive with fun and grinning to the full width
of their mouths. They kept up a buzz of babbling voices and low
laughter, and sometimes burst into a deep, joyous shout which the
spectators answered with three cheers, while a gang of roguish boys
let drive their snow-balls right among the pleasure-party. The sleigh
passed on, and when concealed by a bend of the street was still
audible by a distant cry of merriment.

Never had Peter beheld a livelier scene than was constituted by all
these accessories--the bright sun, the flashing water-drops, the
gleaming snow, the cheerful multitude, the variety of rapid vehicles
and the jingle-jangle of merry bells which made the heart dance to
their music. Nothing dismal was to be seen except that peaked piece of
antiquity Peter Goldthwaite's house, which might well look sad
externally, since such a terrible consumption was preying on its
insides. And Peter's gaunt figure, half visible in the projecting
second story, was worthy of his house.

"Peter! How goes it, friend Peter?" cried a voice across the street as
Peter was drawing in h