he whole way.

Sleigh-riding was not then what it is now. There were a
few large sleighs owned in the town which would hold thirty
or forty persons, and once or twice in the winter the boys
and girls would take a ride to some neighboring town when
the sleighing was good.

The indoor games were marbles, checkers, backgammon, dominoes,
hunt-the-slipper, blind-man's-buff, and in some houses, where
they were not too strict, they played cards. High-low-jack,
sometimes called all-fours or seven-up, everlasting and old
maid were the chief games of cards. Most of these games have
come down from a very early antiquity.

The summer outdoor games were mumble-the-peg, high-spy, snap-
the-whip, a rather dangerous performance, in which a long
row of boys, with the biggest boy at one end, and tapering
down to the smallest at the other end, would run over a field
or open space until suddenly the big boy would stop, turn
half around, and stand still and hold fast with all his might.
The result was that the boy next to him had to move a very
little distance, but the little fellow at the end was compelled
to describe a half-circle with great rapidity, and was sometimes
hurled across the field, and brought up with a heavy fall.
There were thread-the-needle, hunt-the-red-lion and football,
played very much as it is now, except with less system and
discipline, and various games of ball. These games of ball
were much less scientific and difficult than the modern games.
Chief were four-old-cat, three-old-cat, two-old-cat and base.

We had fewer studies at our school than now. The boy who
did not go to college learned to read and write, perhaps
an elementary history of the United States, and arithmetic,
and occasionally made some little progress in algebra. On
Saturdays we used to "speak pieces." Our favorites were
some spirited lyric, like "Scots Wha Hae" or Pierpont's "Stand,
the ground's your own, my braves," "The boy stood on the burning
deck," and "Bernardo del Carpio." Sometimes, though not often,
some comic piece was chosen, like Jack Downing's "Tax on Old
Bachelors."

Those who fitted for college added Latin and Greek to these
studies. The children were sent to school earlier than is
the present fashion, and had long school hours and few vacations.
There were four vacations in the year, of a week each, and
three days at Thanksgiving time. Little account was made
of Christmas. The fashion of Christmas presents was al