a gate mm a man’s field. It was open and he skilfully turned the 
     
     sleigh into the field. The field was clear and smooth and the sleigh 
     
     went at a furious rate. There was a fence across the field and a re- 
     
     cent snow drifted over it. The steerer headed for this drift; he ex- 
     
     pected the sleigh would mount the drift, or its speed be checked. 
     
     When the points of the shafts struck the high bank of loose snow 
     
     they went into it; the speed was so great that it carried the steerer and 
     
     big sleigh through the bank and the fence, making a tunnel under the 
     
     snow. The load of coasters was swept off the sleigh and the deck 
     
     cleared, like a big wave would clear the deck of a vessel when it swept 
     
     over it. There was wild shouting and alarm; they thought the steerer 
     
     would be killed, or badly hurt. He, however, got through without a 
     
     scratch or bruise. The most danger to him was that his head might 
     
     hit the poles in the fence, but it did not. The end of the shafts of 
     
     the big sleigh muSt have broken a hole big enough to let him through. 
     
     This slackened the speed sufficient for him to turn the sleigh so that 
     
     it stopped. None of the coasters were hurt, but they all got a great 
     
     scare. It was too dangerous a place for such wild coasting. That did 
     
     not stop them but they watched the road more carefully afterwards 
     
     when coasting there. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Fishing 
     
    
   
   
    
     I have already given some description of the North Lake; it was 
     
     a great place for fishing. Fish abounded there and we could fish 
     
     summer or winter. In winter we cut holes in the ice and made a wind- 
     
     break of spruce bushes. It was fine fun, sitting in the shelter and 
     
     pulling big trout up through the ice. 'Smelts were plentiful, and so 
     
     were perch. With fair luck one would catch as many in a day as one 
     
     could carry home. Cutting the holes in the ice, which was sometimes 
     
     more than two feet thick, was hard work, but a good fishing hole 
     
     could be worked all winter with a little clearing frequently. In sum- 
     
     mer we caught them with bait of worms, along the rivers and brooks; 
     
     We could stand on the shore, or bank, and catch them. 
     
    
   
   
    
     At a place a few miles from my home another boy and I caught 
     
     very large trout with gaffs; we hooked them out from under the over- 
     
     hanging ledges of the bank of the stream. One had to have sharp 
     
    
   
   
    
     eyes and a quick and sure movement to catch fish that way. 
     
    
   
   
    
     57