Harper's Young People, February 22, 1881 / An Illustrated Weekly

THE RACE ON THE TAPPAN ZEE.
Bump, bang, clatter, clatter.
Eh! hello, who's there? and Arthur jumps from his warm bed, and starts, shivering, to open the window-shutter; but ere he can reach it, another thump from without, and the rattle of a broken snow-ball on the tin roof of the veranda greets his ears.
He gets the shutter open just as Joe Henderson is about to throw another snow-ball, to knock at his door, as it were.
Hello, Joe! what's up? Phew! ain't it cold!
Oh, Art, hurry up and dress, and come down, cries Joe. I've splendid news for you. The river is frozen clear to Tarrytown, and the ice-boats from there are coming over to race with the Nyack boats to-day, and Uncle Nye is going to enter his new yacht, the Jack Frost , in the regatta, and says you and I may go along to help make up the crew. Won't it be fun, though? There's an elegant breeze.
I should say so, chattered Arthur, as he shivered before the window. But I'm afraid I can't go. I don't dare miss school, it's so near examination-day.
Oh, that's all right, cried Joe. I stopped with a letter at Dominie Switchell's on my way up, and he's laid up with another attack of rheumatism, and can't teach school to-day. Ain't it glorious?
Elegant! Hooray! I'm with you! shouted Arthur, as he disappeared from the window. Hurrying on his clothes, and scarcely dipping his face in the icy water, he completed a hasty toilet, bounded down stairs two steps at a time, and tumbled over a chair that grandma had placed before her door to trip up burglars.
Oh dear, what's the matter? cried a voice from the room, as grandma opened the door and peeped into the hall.