h the wood-sled, when he heard there was
sleighing on the old road; and it was decided that the whole party
should go in the wood-sled, with the exception of Mr. Peterkin, who
would follow on with the carry-all. Mrs. Peterkin would take the
arm-chair, and cushions were put in for Elizabeth Eliza, and more
apple-pie for all. No more drops of rain appeared, though the clouds
were thickening over the setting sun.

"All the way back again," sighed Mrs. Peterkin, "when we might have
stayed at home all day, and gone quietly out to the New Hall!" But
the little boys thought the sledding all day was great fun,--and the
apple-pie! "And we did see the kettle through the cracks of the shanty!"

"It is odd the festival should be held at the New Hall," said Elizabeth
Eliza; "for the secretary did say something about the society meeting
there to-night, being so far from the centre of the town."

This hall was so called because it was once a new hall, built to be used
for lectures, assemblies, and entertainments of this sort, for the
convenience of the inhabitants who had collected about some flourishing
factories.

"You can go to your own Circumambient Society, then!" exclaimed Solomon
John.

"And in a truly circumambient manner," said Agamemnon; and he explained
to the little boys that they could now understand the full meaning of
the word, for surely Elizabeth Eliza had taken the most circumambient
way of reaching the place by coming away from it.

"We little thought, when we passed it early this morning," said
Elizabeth Eliza, "that we should come back to it for our maple sugar."

"It is odd the secretary did not tell you they were going to join the
sugar festival," said Mrs. Peterkin.

"It is one of the rules of the society," said Elizabeth Eliza, "that the
secretary never tells anything directly. She only hinted at the plan of
the New Hall."

"I don't see how you can find enough to talk about," said Solomon John.

"We can tell of things that never have happened," said Elizabeth Eliza,
"or that are not likely to happen, and wonder what would have happened
if they had happened."

They arrived at the festival at last, but very late, and glad to find a
place that was warm. There was a stove at each end of the hall, and an
encouraging sound and smell from the simmering syrup. There were long
tables down the hall, on which were placed, in a row, first a bowl of
snow, then a pile of saucers and spoons, then a plate of pick