y
indeed as she looked at them.

"Fit me!" she exclaimed--"those things fit me! Why, Deacon Parmenter,
what can you mean?"

"Too small, eh? Well, now, I'd ha' thought--"

But Mrs. Sanders turned right around and marched away toward her own
house without saying another word.

"Boys," said Uncle Josh, "the skating is fine, but there isn't any more
of it than you'll want. Billy, take care of Brother Bob's skates for
him. I hope you'll all have a good time."

He was edging and sliding along toward the shore while he was talking,
and the last they heard him say was,

"I can skate well enough, but I'm afraid somebody else'll have to do my
walking for me for a week or two."

"He's just the best man in the village," said Joe Pearce.

"So he is," said Billy; "but I'm glad the ice was thick. What would we
have done if he'd broken through?"

"That's why fat men like him don't skate, Billy. Did you see what a hole
he made in that there snow-bank?"

He had, and so had the rest, but they all skated a race across the pond
to take another look at it, and wonder how he ever managed to get out.

SHIPS PAST AND PRESENT.--[SEE PAGE 162.]

[Illustration: SHIPS OF COLUMBUS.]

[Illustration: NORWEGIAN SHIP OF THE TENTH CENTURY.]

[Illustration: THE FIRST OCEAN STEAM-SHIP.]

[Illustration: THE "MAYFLOWER."]

[Illustration: OCEAN STEAM-SHIP OF TO-DAY.]

[Illustration: AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIP.]

SHIPS PAST AND PRESENT.

On page 161 are given illustrations of six different styles of vessels,
all of which are correct drawings of ships that in different ages have
acted important parts in the history of this continent.

The upper right-hand picture represents a Norwegian war ship of the
tenth century, and in such a one Scandinavian traditions assert that,
early in the eleventh century, Olaf Ericsson and his hardy crew sailed
into the unknown west for many a day, until at length they reached the
shores of America. On the authority of these same traditions, some
people assert that the structure known as the "old stone mill of
Newport" was erected by this same Olaf Ericsson, and left by him as a
monument of his discovery.

If Ericsson and his men did make the voyage across the unknown ocean, it
was a very brave thing for them to do, for as the picture shows their
ship was a very small affair when compared with the magnificent vessels
of to-day, and was ill fitted to battle with the storms of the Atlantic.
She was of ab