ride home. I remember vividJy listening to the frost screeching beneath the sleigh runners and falling gradually to sleep before getting home. I recall my mother trying to keep us awake until we arrived home. She would say, "Don't go to sleep now. We'll be home in a few minutes." However, sleep would usually win out. On nice sunny days, we went out to play on the snow banks. We had a fairly large sleigh that was used for coasting. I remember one day when Frank and John were playing outside. I guess it was too cold for Margaret and me to go out. Frank came to the door and told us that it wasn't too cold to go out, and to get dressed to go out for a while. I decided that I wanted to so my mother helped me into my warm clothes and out I went, only to find that it was bitterly cold indeed, and that Frank and John wanted me to attend a funeral for a snow woman who had died. They dug a grave in the garden and took the remains in a cardboard box to the gravesite on a sleigh. They wanted me for a mourner. I was mourning from the bitter cold. When I got in the house, I told my mother through tears that they called me out to pray for an old snow woman. I certainly didn't think it was very funny but apparently my mother did as I overheard her telling a neighbor about it later and having a great laugh. Spring and summer on the farm were always pleasant. There were always things to do. We loved the animals and in the spring there were always new calves, kittens, ducklings, goslings, chickens, or a foal. A new litter of pigs was interesting too. As very young children, we learned to put a bridle on a horse by getting the horse close to something on which we could stand. Then if someone would help us onto the horse, we could go for rides. We were never bored, as children of today seem to be many times. It was nice to walk along the shore by the farm. Sometimes wc took lunch and beverages - not pop, of course, but something different from milk. There were two varieties - a vinegar drink and a cream of tartar drink. Both were made by adding sugar and water to small amounts of either. I cannot recall the exact amounts of the ingredients but Margaret and I often laugh about those drinks. However, as children wc certainly enjoyed them as much as children of today enjoy pop. In the wild strawberry time wc loved to go up to the back field where there was great abundance of the delicious fruit to be picked. The biggest chore was budding them when wc came home. I can still sec the pretty white daisies and the big black eyed Susans as wc walked through the fields. Wc also loved to go with dad when he was repairing fences in the springtime. Travelling through the fields in a cart he sometimes let us drive the horse which was a big thrill. We liked to watch as he used a wire tightener to tighten the wires and staple them to the fence stakes and the posts, which were at the corners. Planting time was also fun and a good learning experience. Wc were always allowed to help and were shown the proper way to plant. At a very young age we were mature enough to be of help with chores around the farm. I loved to drive a horse and was allowed to sit on the 71