Never having heard of such a thing I accepted
the invitation. Securing a couple of shovels we cleared a path to the
knoll; and, on the way, Mr. Hosmer explained that Angus Cameron, another
new pupil, hailing from Canada, had brought to the school a toboggan, a
kind of sled, and we were to make a smooth path or slide for it, so the
boys and girls could try it in the afternoon when there were no lessons.
We went to work with a will, spanking the snow down with the shovels,
leveling uneven places and forming a clear, hard track from the top of
the Knoll to the brook. On the edge of the bank we piled up an inclined
plane, wetting down the snow and building a mound perhaps five feet
high. From this elevation, Mr. Hosmer stated, the toboggan, flying down
the slide, would shoot upward and forward and land on the far side of
the brook. That seemed to me a very desirable thing to do, and, while I
finished up the shovel-work, my companion went back to the Hive and
brought out the toboggan.
This conveniency, well enough known to-day, was new to us, and we did
not quite know how to manage it.
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