h, no, Madame, I couldn't take that; my
little girl couldn't wear it." I, astounded: "But you don't see what
it is--a good, thick cloak that will cover her all up and keep her
warm." "Oh, no, Madame, she couldn't wear that; all the people on the
road would laugh at her! Cela ne se porte pas dans notre pays" (that
is not worn in our country).

I explained that I had several, and that she would see all the other
little girls with the same cloaks; but I got only the same answer,
adding that Madame would see--no child would wear such a cloak. I was
much disgusted--thought the woman was capricious; but she was
perfectly right; not a single mother, and Heaven knows they were poor
enough, would take a red cloak, and they all had to be transformed
into red flannel petticoats. Every woman made me the same answer:
"Every one on the road would laugh at them."

I was not much luckier with the ulsters. What I had ordered for big
girls of nine and ten would just go on girls of six and seven. Either
French children are much stouter than English, or they wear thicker
things underneath. Here again there was work to do--all the sleeves
were much too long; my maids had to alter and shorten them, which they
did with rather a bad grace.

A most interesting operation that very cold year was taking ice out of
the big pond at the foot of the hill. The ice was several inches
thick, and beautifully clear in the middle of the pond; toward the
edges the reeds and long grass had all got frozen into it, and it was
rather difficult to get the big blocks out. We had one of the farm
carts with a pair of strong horses, and three or four men with axes
and a long pointed stick. It was so solid that we all stood on the
pond while the men were cutting their first square hole in the middle.
It was funny to see the fish swimming about under the ice.

The whole village of course looked on, and the children were much
excited, and wanted to come and slide on the ice, but I got nervous as
the hole got bigger and the ice at the edges thinner, so we all
adjourned to the road and watched operations from there.

There were plenty of fish in the pond, and once a year it was
thoroughly drained and cleaned--the water drawn off, and the bottom of
the pond, which got choked up with mud and weeds, cleared out. They
made a fine haul of fish on those occasions from the small pools that
were left on each side while the cleaning was going on.

Our ice-house was a godsen