Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, December 9, 1879, by Various

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Title: Harper's Young People, December 9, 1879
An Illustrated Weekly

Author: Various

Release Date: March 5, 2009 [EBook #28250]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, DEC. 9, 1879 ***

Produced by Annie McGuire

[Illustration: HARPER'S

YOUNG PEOPLE

AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY.]

* * * * *

VOL. I.--NO. 6. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. PRICE FOUR
CENTS.

Tuesday, December 9, 1879. Copyright, 1879, by HARPER & BROTHERS. $1.50
per Year, in Advance.

* * * * *

[Illustration: ON THE ICE-HILL.]

TWENTY MILES AN HOUR.

It was the 6th of January, that great holiday in Russia, when the river
Neva is consecrated with pomp and ceremony, when soldiers parade and
priests say mass, and the Emperor is visible, and the cannon roar. And
it was a gloriously bright and beautiful day; but Ivan and Olga, looking
out on the broad street and the glittering pinnacles of the palace
chapel, watching the sledges fly by with people all muffled in furs,
were two very disconsolate children. They had an English governess--for
Russian children have to study English as Americans do French--and they
had been so unruly, so impatient, and indifferent to lessons, that Miss
Stanley had forbidden their going out to see the sights. This was hard
indeed, but it was needful: that the children could not understand, and
they walked from the great porcelain stove, which reached to the
ceiling, over to the double windows, all packed with sand, and having
curious little paper cornucopias of salt stuck in it to keep the frost
from making pictures on the glass, to and fro, to and fro, in great
unhappiness. Outside, the thermometer was away below zero, but inside,
thanks to the stoves and the great copper heaters, it was as warm as
toast.

"Now, Olga," said Ivan, after an hour or two of this tiresome way of
spending time, "I am not going to stand this any longer; if I can not go
to the Neva, I am going to have a ride on one of the ice mountain