hal and mab blake were awake very early the next morning. mab jumped out of bed first and ran to the window.

"is it raining?" asked hal, from his room. he put one foot out from under the covers to see how cold it was—i mean he wanted to see how cold the air in his room was—not how cold his foot was; for that was warm, from having been asleep in bed with him all night.

"no, it isn't raining," said mab, "but it looks as if it might snow."

"i hope it doesn't snow until we have our pic-nic on the ice," exclaimed hal, as he jumped out of bed, and began to dress.

mamma blake was very busy cooking breakfast, and so was aunt lolly. they had to get the meal and also put up the lunch for the printer pic-nic. a large basket was packed full of good things to eat. i just wish i had some of them now, i'm so hungry!

"well, are you all ready?" asked mr. blake of the children, after breakfast.

"i am, daddy," answered hal, pulling on his red mittens, and swinging his skates by a strap over his shoulder. "i'm all ready."

"and so am i," replied mab, as she tied her cap strings under her chin, so it would not blow away—i mean so the cap would not blow away, not mab's chin; for that was made fast to her face, you see, and couldn't blow off, no matter how much wind whistled down the chimney.

"well, then we'll start," said daddy blake. just then there came a ring at the front door bell, and into the hall tramped charlie and mary johnson, who lived next door to the blake family. the visitors were warmly dressed, and charlie had two pairs of skates slung over his shoulder by the straps.

"oh, we're going on a pic-nic, mary!" cried mab, thinking perhaps her little girl friend had come to ask her to go skating.

"so are we!" exclaimed charlie, and he smiled at daddy blake, who laughed heartily.

"oh, how funny!" cried hal. "are you going to where we are going, i wonder?"

the johnson children looked at mr. blake and giggled.

"yes," he answered with a smile, "they are going to the same place we are, hal and mab. i invited them to go with us, as i thought you would like company. and i guess mamma put up lunch enough for all of us; didn't you?" he asked, turning toward his wife.

"indeed i did!" cried mamma blake. "there's a fine lunch."

"oh, how lovely of you to come with us!" cried mab, as she put her arms around mary.

"it's just dandy!" shouted hal, clapping charlie on the back. then, as he saw that charlie was carrying his sister mary's skates, hal took mab's and put them on a strap with his own, saying:

"i'll carry them for you, mab!"

"thank you," she said, most politely. "you are very kind."

"well, do you like my little surprise?" asked daddy blake as they started off toward the lake, to hold their winter pic-nic.

"surely we do!" answered hal. "it's fine that you asked mary and

charlie to come with us."

it was quite cold out in the air, and, as mab had said, it did look like snow. there were dull, gray clouds in the sky, and the sun did not shine. but the children were happy for all that. in a little while they reached the big frozen lake, and, putting on their skates they started to glide over the ice.

"we will skate about a mile, and then we will rest, and have a little skating race, perhaps, and afterward we can eat our lunch."

"and what will we do after that?" asked charlie.

"oh, skate some more," answered daddy blake. "that is if you want to."

the children had much fun on their skates.

and once, when charlie sat down on the ice, to punch with his knife a hole in his strap, so that it would fit tighter, something happened. charlie laid down his knife, and when he went to pick it up, he found that it had sunk down in the ice, making a little hole for itself to hide in.

"oh, look here!" he cried. "my knife has dug down in the ice just like your dog roly-poly used to dig a hole for a bone."

"poor roly!" sighed mab. "i wish we had him now!"

"but he's gone," said hal. "well never see him again," and he looked at charlie's knife down in the ice. "what made it do that, daddy?" he asked. "what made it sink down?"

"the knife was warmer than the ice, and melted a hole in it," explained mr. blake. "the knife was warm from being in charlie's pocket.

"i read once about some men who went up to the north pole," he continued. "they had with them a barrel of molasses, but it was so cold at the north pole that the molasses was frozen solid. when the men wanted any to sweeten their coffee they would have to chop out chunks with a hatchet. they had very little sugar and so used molasses.

"once one of the men, after chopping some frozen molasses for breakfast, forgot what he was doing, and left the hatchet on top of the solid, frosty sweet stuff in the barrel. the next time he wanted the hatchet to chop with he could not find it. the hatchet had melted its way down through the frozen molasses, until it came to the bottom of the barrel, inside, and there it stayed until all the sweet stuff was chopped out in the spring."

the children laughed at this funny story, and a little later they began skating around. they had races among themselves. hal raced with charlie, and once he won, and once charlie did. but mab, who raced with mary, won both times. mab was becoming a good skater, you see.

and such fun as it was eating lunch in the log cabin. the little building kept off the cold wind, and daddy blake built a fire on the old hearth. hot chocolate was made; and how everyone did enjoy it!

after lunch they all went skating again. as they glided around a little point of land, that stuck out in the lake, hal, who was skating on ahead, cried out, in a surprised voice:

"oh, look at the men and horses on the ice! what are they doing?"

"cutting ice," said daddy blake. "come, we will go over and see how it is done," and away they all skated to where the men were gathering the harvest of ice, just as farmers gather in their harvest of hay and grain.